By Shakirah Adunola
The Ahmadiyyah Muslim Jammat has emphasised the use of pen to promote and defend Islam, noting that Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad initiated the method a century ago.
Speaking during the first yearly conference of Jamia Ahmadiyya Nigeria in Ilaro, Ogun State, themed, ‘Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, The Sultan Ul-Qalam (King of the pen)’ the National President, Majlis Ansarullah, Engr. Abdul Waheed Adeoye Sadr, said the conference was an exhibition of knowledge and the first of its kind in the school.
“We want to exhibit what the students have learned and the beauty of knowledge to the world so that people would gain from their knowledge,” he said.
He added that the group made education a vanguard for the propagation of Islam due to the exploitation of Muslims by their counterparts when seeking knowledge.
“In 1922, Ahmadiyah established a Primary School in Elegbata, Lagos, where Muslims don’t go to school, to bridge the gap between the Christians who usually converted Muslims to Christians whenever Muslims want to attain education. To achieve the purpose, many schools were built all over the country.”
He added that the controversy on the use of hijab by female Muslims in schools is political and any issue that is politicised hardly gets a solution.
“The issue is political at the same time religious. When the government establishes schools, they have a code of conduct in terms of uniforms to wear to school. Along the line, the Muslims realised that according to Quran and tradition, a Muslim girl must cover her head. That is why the Muslims are asking the government to allow them to use hijab in schools, which does not cause anything.”
He appealed to government to allow Muslim girls to wear their hijab to school. “Muslim deserve the right to wear hijabs to school. That should not cause any problem in the country. In all our schools, you will see the females in hijab and they are doing exceptionally well. Even while doing sport, they don’t expose their body.”
The Principal of the School, Maulvi Abdul Azeem Ahmad, said the conference was to celebrate the works of the founder of Ahmadiyyah and the message he brought to the world.
Ahmad said, “The conference is to disseminate and make people understand the messages Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad brought to the world, how far it was acceptable and how people, especially in Africa, got it. We are trying to get all those things he offered to the world, especially to live in peace and give equal opportunity to everybody.”
He added that Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad initiated the theme of the conference in one of his books, saying today’s Jihad is a Jihad of pen, not of sword. “Contrary to what some notable Muslim scholars believe in, that Jihad is only carried out with sword, he fought Jihad with pen and paper. That is why he was called ‘Sultan of Qalam,’ meaning ‘King of the pen.’ He did marvelous work within a life span of 74 years; he used the pen to defend Islam and invented against mainstream orthodox Muslims, who are saying Jihad can only be fought with sword and not the pen.”
Dr. Saheed Timehin, in his lecture tagged, ‘Sufi Themes And Ainae Kamaalat E Islam,’ clarified that Hadrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was not against sufism or the Sufis, saying he only disagreed with those who deviated from the true path whether they were Sufis or not.
“It is worthy of note that Hadrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) did not condemn Tasawwuf. In fact, he spoke respectfully of great Sufis like Abdul Qadir al Jilani and Muhyiddin ibn Arabi, Shah Waliyyullah al Dahlawi and Mu’in ud Din Chisti even though he disagreed with them in some areas.
“In many of his works, he explained and re-defined some Sufi concepts that are shrouded in ambiguities. What is likely to lead to a misunderstanding of his views in ‘Ainae Kamaalaat e Islam’ is his fierce rebuke of the practices of some of the Sufis in India at that time. A look at the rebuke shows that such an invective would not be out of place if directed at most of the main actors in the contemporary Nigerian Sufi social universe,” he said.
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