virtualmosque podcasts: Recent Episodes
virtualmosque team
We are devoted to disseminating to the world, Islam as a simple and tolerant religion. Islam as it was practised by the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), unconditionally the last prophet. We believe each individual has the right to decide, declare and propagate his beliefs and that Jihad, as a continuing effort for self-improvement and propagation of Islam, is a prime duty of every Muslim.
Our main aim is to present Islam in its true, original light, as a peaceful, tolerant, spiritual and rational religion. We seek to show how the spiritual and moral teachings of Islam are vital to the modern world, and how Muslims can live harmoniously in the modern world alongside people of other beliefs and views. Our U.K. branch is a continuation of the Woking Muslim Mission founded at the Woking Mosque (Surrey) in 1913, as the Woking Muslim Mission.
In this khutba, we show that the current environmental damage is caused by humans with sweet tongues who tell us that this invention or that will make our lives so easy but never explain the damage it will do to the environment. The Holy Quran tells us to travel the earth and find remains of people who died out for violating the nature's laws.
In this Khutba, brother Mustaq looks at Chapter 107 of the Holy Quran in light of recent events around the World, and explains the importance that Islam puts on acts of kindness, not just to human beings but to all creatures
How do you want to be remembered? What do you want your legacy to be? These are the question asked by Mr Salman Tufail in his speech at the July 2018 open day, at Wembley Mosque.
This is a section taken from a longer speech by Brother Mudassar who looks at the dangers of simply "googling it", and how the misunderstanding of how google, facebook and twitter work can lead to mis-information being quickly spread.
There are reports that some Muslims have left Islam upon being taught that Islam teaches violence. This is similar to what was happening in India when Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad put forward his claim to being the Messiah.
We answer this question in the light of the following verses of the Holy Quran - 9:60 and 60:8 to show that Zakat can be spent to relieve the problems of any person regardless of their religion.
This is short speech from the second Iftar at our Mosque in Wembley. Our young brother talks about the effects of complaining and how we are guided to be greatful and stay away from such acts .
This is a special audio version of The Light Magazine which is a free monthly magazine produced by the Lahore Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam (The only Islamic group who believe in the absolute finality of Prophethood).
This is the May 2018 edition.
In response to the comments to articles about the position of women in Islam, only Lahori-Ahmadis replied and defended Islam. This is because in our organisation we openly discuss such matters whereas in other mosques it is a taboo and in Muslim majority countries forbidden by Blasphemy Laws
Newspapers have been printing articles about the position of women in Islam. One such article was printed by The Independent. In response to this many people wrote in saying that in Islam men are regarded as superior to women. We look at this.
Brother Inshaal looks at why we assume Muslim majority countries are Islamic, when if you look at the evidence you would be shocked to discover which countries, in the world, are actually most Islamic
Last week we looked at the relationship between some verses of the Surah Ikhlas and the Jewish belief in the Unity of Godhead. This week we look at the remaining chapter and consider how it deals with the doctrine of Sonship of Jesus.
In this short talk we compare the attitude of the early Muslim leaders with current political leadership. We show that the killings in Florida were cause because political leaders now do not have any principle but just fight for self interest.
Jewish Mujadidds! In 5:32 the Holy Quran says that it told the Israelites that killing of one person is equal to the killing of humanity. But this is not found in the Old Testament. We show where the Israelites were given this Command.
Arising from a discussion about whether Muslim Family Law should be incorporated in the British Family Law, on various forums some Christians started attacking the proposal by saying that Sharia is taking over and a takeover by a violent religion like Islam can be prevented. In this brief lecture we show that in one War, that is WW II, Christians killed more people than all the other religions put together over the centuries.
In this khutba we look at how humans, having created superbugs and made antibiotics useless, are now turning to nature for modern cures. We are studying insects which live in communities, like ants, to find out how they heal themselves and trying to apply it to humans.
Some people ask us when we are Sunnis why do we invite abuse by calling ourselves Lahori-Ahmadi Muslims. We are not Sunnis and in this speech we explain how our beliefs differ on many points from the Sunnis.
Brother Faizaan looks at mental health issues in the Muslim community and how our ignorance on the matter is a danger for people suffering in silence.
We looked at what the Holy Quran says about protection and rights of women. The question is whether these were ever implemented in practice. We look at the history women at the time of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (s) to see how they were treated.
We continue with our theme from last week, and look at how the Holy Quran gives equal pay and other rights.
For long Qadianis have used an issue of the Paigham i Sulah from 1913 to try and convince people that Lahori-Ahmadis initially believed that Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was a prophet. It is true that a 1913 issue of the Paigham refers to Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as a nabi (prophet)! But the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam was not created until 1914. So, how can we be responsible for a paper publishing something when we did not exist.
For too long has the West lectured Muslims about women, their rights and the protection of their dignity. Here we look at the Quranic teaching and why it is necessary to protect women.
In his interview with CNN Mr Trump tells the audience that ‘Islam hates them’. When asked is it the religion of Islam that teaches hatred, he did not answer.
So what is the truth? Does Islam hate America? Is Donald Trump right? Let us see what the Holy Quran has to say on the subject.
There is a lot of fuss in the West about implementation of Sharia. Generally, people fail to realise that many principles of Sharia have already been incorporated in the British law and others are being incorporated for the benefit of the general public. Law of Tort is one example of this. We look at the Islamic principles of Tort in this khutba.
The rubberband is a mundane object used every day in our lives. However for it to fulfil the purpose for which it was made it has to be stretched and twisted. It then gets stronger and fulfils the purpose for which it was made. The Holy Quran elucidates to this precise point and has in place parameters which allow a human being to reach perfection of body, mind and spirit. They too have to be stretched in order to fulfil the purpose of their creation.
Many in the West say that there is no structure to the Holy Quran. They fall into this mistake because they try and read it like a history book or a story book. One could argue that there is no structure to a book of mathematics; one chapter is about addition, next subtraction, next multiplication etc.
We can only find a structure in the Holy Quran if we understands what it is about. Take the example of news on the TV. We could say there is no structure to them because unlike a film all the items are unrelated. But once we understand that the news is not like a film but tell us the important events of the day from different part of the world we understand the structure. This applies to the Holy Quran.
We also look at the news items from one day; banks being fined for manipulating exchange and interest rates, Muslim trying to flee persecution being turned away by Muslim countries to see if there is a relationship between these items.
We continue reading from Kitab ul Bariyyah. In this extract the Promised Messiah shows how the Christian religion does not match up to any standard by which the veracity of a religion may be judged.
Last week was VE day which was celebrated with great pomp and ceremony. In this khutba we look at the Holy Quran's teaching that persecution is worse than killing. It is shown that the treatment of Germany after the First World War, which may be regarded as being in line with mosaic law, led to such deprivation that it led to the rise of Nazis in Germany. The attempts to appease Nazis, which may be regarded as being in accordance with Jesus' teaching to turn the other check, led to unimaginable persecution and suffering. The Allies had to turn to the Quranic teaching that persecution is worse that slaughter to overcome the Nazis and put an end to persecution.
We continue with the reading from the Promised Messiah's book, Kitab al Bariyyah or My Exoneration. In the last extract it was shown there are three ways of finding the right path. First, Divine Guidance such as found in the Holy Quran. Second, rational argument and third, heavenly signs shown by selected persons who have Divine support.
In this extract, the Promised Messiah shows how the Christian religion fails on these three criteria.
We continue on from our reading, last week, of the Promised Messiah's book kitab-ul-Bariyyah (My Exoneration).
In this section he discusses how we may find the right path. It is by reading the Holy Book. If that fails then by rational arguments and if even that fails then heavenly signs granted to the reformer of the age.
The Holy Quran talks many times about being faithful to Allah.
Chapter 8 verse 27 and Chapter 23 verses 8 to 11 speak of believers being faithful to Allah, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (s) and to the trusts placed in us.
In this khutba we look at what it means to being faithful to the trusts placed in us.
We continue reading from The Promised Messiah's books. Today we read from Al Bariyya (My Exoneration) which is an account by the Promised Messiah of how Christian missionaries fabricated a charge of attempted murder against him and how his Muslim opponents supported the missionaries.
He says that this was part of Allah's plan to strip from the faces of his Muslim opponents the false mask of piety and holiness.
Some Muslims are distributing leaflets saying that Muslims should not take part in elections in the Western Countries. They say it amounts to committing shirk.
They do not, however, produce any verse from the Holy Quran to support what they say. This khutba shows that, on the contrary, the Holy Quran gives clear instructions about who Muslims should elect as their leader as well as examples of how Allah expects leaders to behave. These are further supported by how the leaders of early Islamic communities behaved.
If we separate and isolate ourselves then we will become an irrelevance to the political and social structures of this country with no voice in the higher echelons of government and no influence on policy.
So we implor every Muslims in Britain to go out and vote tomorrow to influence and affect the political landscape of this country.
The word khalifa is an Arabic word meaning successor. That is why Hazrat Abu Bakr (r) was called khalifa because he succeeded the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). When he passed on and Hazrat Umar (r) became the head of Muslim state, a new title had to be found for him and the term 'Amir ul Maumineen" was coined.
Earlier Kalifa's of the Qadiani jamaat called themselves "khalifa tul Massih" or successors of the Promised Messiah. More recently however they have started calling themselves Khalifa tul Islam - meaning head of the Muslim community. This is laughable because only a tiny percentage of Muslims are members of their jamaat. But it is also sinister in that it implies that only those who are members of their jamaat are Muslims. Earlier Qadianis used to openly say that those not in their jamaat are heretics. They have now abandoned that but are now using more subtle methods to call others heretics.
The Holy Quran in chapter 3 verses 101 to 104 speaks of the need for the Muslims to be united together. However, when we look around we find that Muslims rather than be united are fighting each other.
Tracing the history of current disputes from WWI to this day it is clear that Muslims have killed more Muslims than non-Muslims have.
Our Sunni brothers say that there are contradictory verses in the Holy Quran and these contradictions can only be removed by declaring some verses to have been abrogated. There is no authority or view about how many verses are abrogated or which verses they are. Some people have said that 512 verses of the Holy Quran are abrogated. Imam Sayyuti discussed these and brought the number of verses down to 21! Hazrat Shah Wali Ullah discussed these 21 and brought the number of abrogated verses down further to 5.
In this podcast we look at and explain why no verse of the Holy Quran is, or can ever be abrogated.
Many Muslims, and non Muslims alike, claim that Islamic guidance dictates that Muslims only need to gain knowledge of their religion and nothing else matters.
In this Khutba we look at that claim and examine not only what the Holy Prophet (s) told us to do, but what Muslims in the 'golden age' of Islam were doing.
The Promised Messiah said that as time goes on people will accept his interpretation of Islam, regardless of whether they accept him as the Messiah and Mehdi or not.
In the last two day we seen that the most orthodox Sunni leaders, religious and secular, have accepted the Ahmadi interpretations in two areas. The first is divorce. The traditional Sunni view has been that a man was entitled to pronounce the word divorce thrice and he would be divorce, even if the wife was not aware of it. The Council for Islamic ideology in Pakistan announced in the last few days that it has recommended to the Pakistan government to make this practice unlawful and punishable. It is worth mentioning that first family law reform implemented by the Pakistan government in 1962 was drafted by Mr Nasir Ahmad Farqui, a prominent member of this jamaat.
The second reform is related to rape-law. Last year the religious court threw out a case involving rape where the evidence was on DNA and not eye witness testimony of four people. A khutba was delivered from our UK mosque which criticised this decision and showed that DNA evidence is admissible. Pakistan parliament has now passed a law enabling DNA evidence to be used to prove rape.
These incident prove the truth of what Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad said and quoted above.
Our brother Sunni-Muslims are always complaining about the poor reputation they have in the World. It is easy to blame others for their prejudices and very hard to look at ourselves. Our brothers need to look at their beliefs and behaviour to see if these are the cause of their poor reputation and not only others prejudices.
Was Paris an attack on freedom? Should all Muslims apologise for the crazy acts of a few men who claim a belonging to Islam?
In this speech Mr Shahid Aziz examines the events of the 7th Jan 2015 when masked men broke into the offices of Charlie Hebdo and killed 12 people in an apparent attempt to revenge the cartoons the magazine published mocking the Holy Prophet (s).
Our role in this life is to become living examples of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (s), but as mere mortals we cannot do this on our own. Thus we have been given the guidance how to do this in the Holy Quran. Very few adhere to its teachings but our path to success has been strategically set out in the Quranic text.
If we choose to follow this guidance then It requires a lifetime of discipline but in the end we are guaranteed success.
This is a new approach to Islamic teaching which traditionally suggests that the Holy Quran is for Muslims only.
This radical departure from this approach suggests that everyone can benefit from the guidance of the Holy Quran if they look at its teachings as being aimed at humanity regardless of people's beliefs. We look at one verse of the Holy Quran which is relevant to the treatment of African Americans by the white people in America.
The Holy Quran describes Islam as a deen an Arabic word which is mostly translated into English as "religion". However, looking into different translations it can be seen that, in different places, it is translated as judgment, recompense, obedience as well as religion. In fact, the word deen stands for more than just religious rituals. It signifies: a way of life. If we use this translation it gives us a better way of dealing with behaviour Islam disapproves of.
For example Chapter 109 can be taken to mean that the non-believers are not convinced of the truth of Islam and the Holy Prophet (s) does not accept their lifestyle so how should they live together? The chapter, consisting of a few verses, ends by saying "so for you is your deen (way of life) and for me is my deen." In other words, I do not accept your way of living and beliefs but you live the way you want to and I will live the way I want to.