Kaaba: The very First House of God
Unless one came to the United States in the last five years, it is hard to think that one does not know about Shaheen Sweets. It started as a small shop in Lexington Avenue in Manhattan in 1973. Then it had an exponential rise. By the time I came here in 1988, it was almost on its zenith. There was a sweet factory on Broadway in Jackson Heights, along with another restaurant in the area and the sweets were shipped all across the USA and Canada. Once I was in LA in an Indian grocery store and the only mithaee was of Shaheen. Later it had a slow decline when many competitions arrived, both Pakistani and Indian, and later Bangla Deshi. Now the Manhattan restaurant is gone, one in Jackson Heights is closed and the other is only a sideshow of sweets with the main food service by Dera restaurant. The founder, Abdul Hamid had retired and the sons presumably went their own ways. One moved to Baltimore. One grandson Zeeshan, opened a shop in Hicksville Long Island. That is close to our home and if food at our home is catered from outside, most of the time it is from there.
On Dec 11th, Naseer Sahib, the lifetime loyal of Shaheen informed me about the passing away of Zeeshan’s grandmother and of the funeral the day after next, in the middle of the day, I made necessary arrangements to be there.
So on December the 13th, I entered an Ahmadi place of worship for the first time in my life. Growing up we always had Ahmadi friends. Many a time due to my father’s liberal interaction with anyone who was interested in talking, we had Ahamdi enthusiasts working overtime to convert him. I think he visited Qadian a few times in his early life. I grew up reading left over copies of Al Fazl newspaper all the times. But I never went to an Ahmadi mosque until now.
Sometime during the gradual tightening of the noose on Ahmadi way of life in Gen Zia’s time they were disallowed to use the word Masjid for their places of worship. So all of their masajid were renamed as Bait. Perhaps they got so much used to it that they now call the masjid here in NY as bait; perhaps a way to distinguish themselves.
I had seen the place from outside all the times. It is on my way home. A friend of mine had told me months back that Ahmadis have bought a big place just off the Grand Central Parkway on 188th street. It is named Bait uz Zafar, named after the first Foreign Minister of Pakistan. Apart from being the most famous Ahmadi in Pakistan Movement, he has other claims to have a place of worship named after him. He has translated Quran in English and it a pretty good translation.
Bait uz Zafar Mosque in New York
It is a converted place, perhaps a school or a church. Quite spacious for NY, and in the middle of a thriving neighborhood. A very prominent place. The entrance is very visitor friendly and has information on the Ahmadi creed on the walls. The display is pretty impressive with many translations of Quran by Ahmadis in various languages. The main hall is a divided auditorium, front for men and rear for women.
It seems like that Ahmadis have more of an emphasis to have the head covered, for men. Not that much emphasis on the beard, however. Most of the bearded persons have beard like me, less than half an inch. I remember in old days it was called the ahmadi dhaari. People of recognized responsibility don the qaraquli cap, and most of the rest have some sort of a head gear. The pictures of all the leaders in the hallway had either qaraquli caps or the turbans, once make popular by their founder. I remember Dr Abdus Salam wearing that type of turban when accepting the Nobel prize.
The actual funeral was preceded by Zuhr Prayers. The azaan was the same as what I had heard all my life. Not that much emphasis on the melody of recitation. The imam who led the prayer was a traveler and led the prayer in the familiar way. All the rituals were like I have grown up with. In fact some of the other sects have somewhat different rituals and one is sometimes not sure how to follow, but not here. Most of the non-Ahmadi’s like me prayed behind the imam. expect a few. Many of us Non Ahmadis were either trying to establish an eye contact with each other or actively trying to avoid that. In the end most of us did blend in.
Imam had informed the congregation that he was a traveler and he will only pray for two rakats and the locals should continue the rest of the prayer on their own. That is the way it happens all the times. Somehow most of the congregation did finish the prayer with him, and joined him again for the two kasr for Asar prayers. Perhaps most were travelers like the Imam.
The janaza prayer was also exactly the same as the Sunni prayer. Although it is silent, but the Imam was mouthing the words in a big whisper ( as sometimes they do to guide the congregation on what to recite) and it was of the same sequence i.e. subhanakallahuma/darood/allahuma agfir— and without the alhamd.
There was however no communal prayer at the end of the namaz or the janaza, like raising hands and offering supplications.
Noticeable exception was that the women did not line up for the janaza. It may not be a creed thing. and perhaps the culture of a particular mosque. In our masjid at ICLI, women do line up for funeral, if they desire so.
All things considered, it was not much different than any other funeral I attend. Somehow funerals and memorials have increasingly become a part of social calender, perhaps a factor of our age as a community. Going in I had cautious skepticism, coming out I felt somewhat good about being there.
Somehow I felt writing about it.
Author: Nasir Gondal MD is a practicing Hematologist and Medical Oncologist in New York. He is a prominent member of APPNA and lives in Long Island. He is a childhood friend of the Chief Editor of the Muslim Times, Zia H Shah MD, from Cadet College Hasanabdal, Pakistan.
Categories: Americas, Uncategorized
Just a ‘side-remark’: Interesting point on the use of the word ‘Bait’ … Actually I was wondering myself, why we now-a-days tend to not use the word ‘Mosque’ …
Unusual that Ahmadi women dint line up, normally they always do and participate in funeral prayer.
Here in London, we normally do have a hall full of women at funerals, sometime even an overflow
The women may have been in a separate hall
Well, I do mention from time to time that it would be a good idea for MTA to show the full hall of women at our Mosques also. The Ahmadis know that they are there, however, the non-Ahmadi viewer (and there are many!!!) may get the impression that ladies to not attend the Ahmadiyya Mosques. (MTA producers please take note!)
What is heartening and most gratifying about Dr. Nasir Gondal’s post is that he and many of his Sunni friends went to the Ahmadi mosque and attended funeral services of an Ahmadi Muslim. As he pointed out perhaps this could not have possible given the sentiments of people in Pakistan about us Ahmadi Muslims. Praying for a fellow Muslim is an act of righteousness the rewards thereof lies with Allahu Rabul Izzat.
In contrast, we have several rules to follow and for a variety of reasons we do not offer prayers behind a Sunni Muslim Imam or for that matter observe the funeral prayers of the non-Ahmadi Muslims. This is a very sensitive matter for both us and them specially when a deceased is our own relative.
The point is, Dr G like many is naive, like he indicated dad was ‘liberal’. Qadianis are not fellow muslims, not by a long strech, lets just call a spade a spade, they can be whatever they want, but they are NOT muslims. Why don’t they just call themselves Qadianis or Ahmadiyya like they do and just drop the muslim lable, sure go ahead use the Quran everything else the Muslims have, but at the end of the day that doens’t make you a muslim cuz their BELIEF is different.
In fact Ahmadis women are those who go to the mosque without any restriction, all over the world. The non-ahmadis women are forbidden to pray in the mosque. Many school of thoughts in Islam do not allow their women to participate in congretional prayers in mosques.In mauritius, only the ahmadis women go to the mosques. During one of my lectures in a sunni mosque, I pointed out that it is only the muslim women in the island that do not go to a place of worship. Be it christian ladies, or hindus, tamil telegus or whatever group they are, al go toa place of worship except the muslum women. Yes they do go: ONLY when they are dead and for their funeral prayers!!!
Gondal sahib
Assalamo Alaikum,
Thank you very much for writing the story about your visit to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mosque. I hope this will remove the doubts of many of our other Non Ahmadi friends.
I hope your this visit will take you to our other or to the same mosque again to make so many other discoveries. Insha Allah.
May Allah be with you,
Abu Omar
Asalamu Alaikum Dr. Gondal,
This was a gratifying article indeed. Thank you for sharing your experience.
My family actually attended Uncle Abdul Hamid’s wife’s janaza this week. Our family here in NY has been very close with the family since the 80s and was sad to hear of Aunti’s demise. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un. May Allah grant her a lofty status in Paradise. Ameen.
Many women participated in Aunti’s janaza prayer. The other half of the hall was filled with women from our community from both NY and out-of-state as well. Such is the standard for many of our gatherings in our masjids (Eid, Janazas, etc).
In fact, Ahmadi women have been given countless responsibilities and prominent roles in the resurgence of Islam. In 1922, our Khalifa (leader) Hadhrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad [ra] created a special auxiliary for women known as Lajna Ima’illah (maid servants of Allah). Since the advent of Ahmadiyyat, women have been strong and active participants in our community globally, working both alongside men and independently through sacrifice, education, charity work and countless other ways. Growing up, I’ve spent mostly all my weekends at the masjid (and still do, Alhumdolilah)!
Thank you again for sharing your experience with us.
Take care!
Apologies, a quick correction: for this particular janaza, women were inside the main prayer hall while the men were outside. JazakAllah.
I appreciate all the comments. My intention was not to make any judgments but rather to highlight the various similarities and differences I noticed. I must have missed many things and the fault is entirely mine.
I did not mean that women were not there at all. In fact they were there in quite a big number and had viewed the body before the prayers. What I meant was that I did not see the women participating in the actual janaza prayers outside the mosque. They remained inside in the women’s section and may very well had participated.
Dear Dr. Gondal Sahib
Assalamo Alaikum,
Thank you very much for your write up. While some points have been addressed by others, one may have slipped by. You mentioned that the janaza prayer was without the Al-Hamd i.e. Surah-e-Fateha, presumably because respected Imam sahib was not heard in whisper as he only whispered first few words only to prompt the followers. I would like to correct it, after Sana, we do recite Surah-e-Fateha during Janaza prayer as the essential part of the prayer. I hope this will clarify the misunderstanding.
Wassalam,
Karim Sharif
Dear Dr. Gondal:
Thank you for a well written piece. To quote Obama, you have extended an unclenched hand of friendship and I have no doubt that the AMJ of NewYork will reciprocate this good act of yours.
I am pleased that some of the other commentators have clarified the issue of ahmadi women and Janaza prayers.
Interestingly this year I travelled to St. John’s NL to lead the Eid prayers. A very good non Ahmadi Muslim friend of mine joined us for the prayers. And indeed I prayed 2 and 2 rakaats for Zuhr/Asr and the rest of the congregation continued on to complete their precribed prayers.
Interestingly I once made it clear to that same friend that if I do not pray behind him that should not be translated that I nourish animosity for him and by extension for any other group of Muslims.
I think that anybody ought to have the right to pray behind the one they are comfortable with without being judged and I think that you have already demonstrated that.
Thank you.
Dr. Boodhun
Grand Falls-Windsor, NL
Canada
Dear Dr. Gondal, Assalamo Alaikum wrwb,
Jazakallah for your well written assay – I hope it will remove some misunderstandings about Ahmadi Muslims, among other Muslims.
Looking at earlier comments, I hope it is clear to you by now that:
1. Ahmadi places of worship are MASJIDs
2. Ahmadi women do offer Janaza prayer – perhaps they were in another part of the Masjid.
May Allah bless your honest effort to establishing peace.
Wassalam,
Amjad Qureshi
Washington, DC
I am from this mosque and was also at the funeral prayer. The women are not to line up behind the janaaza, meaning, after namaz, the men proceeded to the outside area where the body was and lined up and the women, who were in the hall behind the men, did, indeed participate and perform the janaaza prayer but remained indoors. only that we were inside the hall, whereas the men were outside directly before the body.
Ahmadi’s have been misunderstood and misinterpreted by different sects of the Muslim world. We are indeed Muslims, our places of worship are indeed Masjid’s.
The women’s hall is not shown on MTA and publicly on television or publicized due to Pardah reasons. the women are always at the Masjid, for Juma Prayers and any other gathering.
It would be possible for MTA to ‘have a shot’ at the ladies parts of the mosques without getting into trouble for ‘Pardah’ reasons. It is not necessary to have ‘close up’ shots. But, as you see, to remove misunderstandings, we have to show to the world that ladies attend the mosques also. Can you imagine: A (non-Ahmadi) MTA viewer from Macedonia even asked me whether Ahmadis say ‘salat’ (namaz) as the cameras usually close down when the prayers start. Saudi TV shows the full Tarawee prayers for instance during Ramadan. We should have an open mind on these things.
I appreciate the writer for the piece. Here in Nigeria, women do participate in the Janaza prayers, even in the open field but behind the men as prescribed for other congregational prayers. There is no restriction on women when it comes to participating in any congregational prayers except on the occasions when they are not Islamically permitted to offer salat.
All of our Mosques are called Ahmadiyya Muslim Mosque with very few with the world bayt. Even then those are also generally refer to everybody, Ahmadis, Non-Ahmadis and non-Muslims. Therefore, Our places of worship are masaajid and all of them have separate hall for women.
Thank you.
I meant ‘the word bayt’ and not ‘world’
It has been an education for me.
Thanks to Zia for posting my article, and to all those who responded.
I appreciate all the comments.
please i am ignorant on the issues of sects in Islaam, because ALLAAH (S.W.T) clearly denounces sectanairism & schisms in AL QURAAN -AL KAREEM.
So please explain where this mushroom from & why the divisions.
It certainly was not present in the times of the Prophet Muhummud (S.A.W.).
The schisms & sects that are currently present give the journalists & those seeking to divide & rule & cause mischief a field day.
What is to say that the desecration of certain sects graves were done by what we call in South Africa “the Third Force” i.e. some individual / group that seeks the divide & rule & create false impressions that it was done by the so-called rival group ; so that a sectarian civil war etc. break out between Muslims.
So consider the above scenario & as ALLAAH (S.W.T.) says in AL-QUR’AAN KAREEM : “Investigate carefully”.
Thank you Fauzia for your wise comments. Every thing what you have said is correct. Thank you also for coming to the Holy Quran and Allah’s command that “Investigate carefully”. I welcome you to these Glorious Words of Allah. I believe in this from the depth of my heart. Do you have in your mind any other suggestions on how to “Investigate carefully”?
Thanks,
Abu Omar
گوندل صاحب! تو جماعت میں کب داخل ہورھے ہیں ؟
وقت زیادہ نہیں رہا ؟ حالات تو آپ دیکھ ہی رہے ہیں ؟ اللہ آپکی مدد کرے آمین
One reason, I guess, why we not saying mosque is because of the Pakistan’s law that prohibit us from using the Islam terminologies and the media is also cautious not to mention our place of worship as mosque. But that is good for compliance in Pakistan situation and should not become so rampant that we have to do a lot of explaining during our Tabligh efforts.
Dear Fawzia,
Assalamo Alaikum,
You said that the sects are created to “divide and rule”, and have given some examples. I realize that, but you have given all the examples of politics. In the Holy Quran it is considered as illegal and (shirk) if the sects are made by an ordinary person. Have you noticed that whenever any prophet’s advent is mentioned in the Holy Quran, then all those who were considered as one group, they divide themselves into two groups/ sects – one group (sect) accepts the prophet and the other group (sect) rejects the prophet. The Holy Quran is full with these examples.
I hope you understand my point without going into further details.
Hope you will come up with your ideas or thoughts/ arguments.
Abu Omar
Very patronising attitude this guy has towards Ahmadis. I am not thrilled.
There is no doubt about the devotion of Ahmadis toward there religion but not believing in last prophet they lost the way because they are not among those who are blessed and did not to go astray. So nothing can be done unless they return back to that place where they lost and misunderstood because no one is going to Jannah without the blessing of prophet Muhammad peace be upon him and he is not going to give permission because ahmadis are not giving the respect to him and it is is hindrance for anyone to go to jannah including Ahmadis.
Syed Shah sahib, Who told you that Ahmadies do not believe in the Holy Prophet Muhammad S.A.W. Please correct your knowledge.
It looks that you have not read any writings of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad sahib.
Mirza Ahmad
Urdu Video on the Issue of Finality of Prophethood
http://youtu.be/3NXcgWUf68w
Syed Shah: Looking at the ‘Muslim World’ today on one hand and the progress of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at on the other please rethink where Allah’s blessings appear to be.
if any once creed is increasing its not suppose to revealation of blessings , its one among the aasar thats hapeen before qiyamah , you Ahmedi misguided logical people having no way relationship with islam , You people are worst among whole creation .
without applying meta morphic tricks you cannot even step a single. thats everything is you people addicted to create metamorphical meanings … which is far away from ijma e ummat