‘Excavation of Ahmadi grave could spark clash’

[Roybot]

Faislabad: Claiming of constant discrimination and threats to their lives, the Ahmadiyya community in Faisalabad has one more thing to worry about: resting in peace.

The Ahmadiyya community has called upon government functionaries as well as police authorities to help avert a possible clash which could erupt if the grave of an Ahmadi is excavated from a Muslim cemetery in the jurisdiction of the Jaranwala police station.

In this regard, Secretary Amoor-e-Aama, Jamaat Ahmadiyya Faisalabad, Syed Mahmood Ahmad Shah has written two letters to the Punjab home secretary and top police officials, expressing fears that if immediate steps are not taken to resolve the issue many Ahmadis “may lose their lives at the hands of banned outfits that are constantly hurling threats”.

He pointed out that for the last many years, the Ahmadiyya community has been living in peace and harmony and the communities (Muslim and Ahmadiyya) have a common graveyard in Jaranwala. He further said that one member of their community, Nazeer Ahmad, who died on May 11, 2012, was buried in the graveyard, with the consent of all the villagers. However, he added, soon enough some maulvis from out of town started protesting against the burial and began a hate campaign against Ahmadis.

“The locals facilitated the funeral prayer and permitted the burial as they are not perverse and deviant like the maulvis, who are from out of town. They are trying to convince people to dig out the graves of Ahmadis saying they are non-Muslim infidels,” Shah said.The secretary warned that if a single grave of an Ahmadi is desecrated, it would result in “serious consequences”.

He appealed to government functionaries and police authorities to discourage the maulvis taking any such step.“We have been targeted and victimised mercilessly but there has been no sympathetic consideration for this community,” Shah said.

Meanwhile, SP Jaranwala Division, Shah Nawaz told The Express Tribune that the issue had been resolved following negotiations with all the stakeholders including the Ahmadiyya community.“It has been made clear to the Ahmadiyya community that they will not bury their community members in a graveyard which is also a Muslim graveyard,” he said

The police official further said that efforts are being made for the allocation of state land for burials of Ahmadis separately in a newly developed graveyard. “Special police forces have also been constituted which will patrol in the area around the clock so as to avert any untoward incident,” the SP added.
Published In The Express Tribune, June 15th, 2012.

"Excavation of Ahmadi grave could spark clash" – The Express Tribune

This is a disgrace. These people are not allowed to live peacefully and now they can't even die in peace. Does it really matter if the person buried in a Muslim graveyard is a Muslim or a Ahmadiyya? Is this how tolerant Islam is?

 

[jetti]

"Excavation of Ahmadi grave could spark clash" – The Express Tribune

This is a disgrace. These people are not allowed to live peacefully and now they can't even die in peace. Does it really matter if the person buried in a Muslim graveyard is a Muslim or a Ahmadiyya? Is this how tolerant Islam is?

dont say about islm. it just lays down rules, its the people who implement it.

 

[killerx]

Tell my all the christens you would let Muslims to be berried in your christen grave yards and let me remind ahmadi are not Muslim

 

[KingMamba]

Ahmadis are not muslim give them their own graveyard. Nuff said

 

[aakash_2410]

Tell my all the christens you would let Muslims to be berried in your christen grave yards and let me remind ahmadi are not Muslim

I can't believe, you're defending these actions?

In India everybody is cremated together at the same place? Whether be it Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist or Jain.

 

[fd24]

"Excavation of Ahmadi grave could spark clash" – The Express Tribune

This is a disgrace. These people are not allowed to live peacefully and now they can't even die in peace. Does it really matter if the person buried in a Muslim graveyard is a Muslim or a Ahmadiyya? Is this how tolerant Islam is?

No sane person would sanction behavior of this nation. Lets not generalize about our faith in this manner. Islam is very tolerant - the interpretation is the key. One cant and must not generalize about our faith with this isolated incident - immature to do so...

 

[Roybot]

No sane person would sanction behavior of this nation. Lets not generalize about our faith in this manner. Islam is very tolerant - the interpretation is the key. One cant and must not generalize about our faith with this isolated incident - immature to do so...

Its surely not a one off incident though. Am questioning the rule that non Muslims can't be buried in a Muslim graveyard. When you can live side by side with non Muslims why can't people of different faith have their graves next to each other?

Is this rule mentioned in the book?

 

[fd24]

Its surely not a one off incident though. Am questioning the rule that non Muslims can't be buried in a Muslim graveyard. When you can live side by side with non Muslims why can't people of different faith have their graves next to each other?

To be frank with you i can only speak on a personal level and i respect all faiths and expect in return my faith to be respected. I don't wish to go into specifics regarding this issue and you are aware religious topics are banned on the forum but i will say that many believe Ahmadiyya Movement is of reform or a pious fraud in the name of Islam.

 

[Sinnerman108]

This is an extremely pathetic piece of journalism.

The article clearly states that the deceased was Ahmedi NOT a muslim; and also that Ahmedi man was buried in Muslims graveyard.

So,why was he buried in a Muslim graveyard ?

It is not like the Ahmedi are not aware of laws,
They know very well what the laws are, and yet they decided to challenge social setup.

For this "mischief" they are getting what they deserve.

 

[Roybot]

To be frank with you i can only speak on a personal level and i respect all faiths and expect in return my faith to be respected. I don't wish to go into specifics regarding this issue and you are aware religious topics are banned on the forum but i will say that many believe Ahmadiyya Movement is of reform or a pious fraud in the name of Islam.

Please don't get me wrong my intention isn't to offend anyone, and I have utmost respect for all the faiths in the world. The news just got me thinking as to what happens in the case of inter religious marriages. Husband and Wife not allowed to be buried in the same graveyard?

Is this segregation man made or prescribed by the Quran?

 

[Jango]

This is a special case of a more general question: Can a Muslim and a non-Muslim be buried in the same cemetery? The common view is that it is prohibited to bury a Muslim in a non-Muslim cemetery and vice versa except when it is unavoidable. However, this view is not duly supported by the word of God and the sunnah of his Messenger (salla allah ‘alayhi wa sallam)[1].

To be sure, it is a very natural human sentiment that we should want to be buried with those who share our faith in the one true God and his beloved Messenger (salla allah ‘alayhi wa sallam). Furthermore, there are many regulations or traditional practices in Islam for burial related to the type of grave, its simplicity, putting head in the direction of the Qiblah etc, which makes it desirable that Muslims have a separate burial area. It is therefore not surprising that whenever possible Muslims have buried their dead in cemeteries reserved exclusively for them.

But to declare something prohibited or haram we need clear evidence in the Qur`an and the Hadith and no such evidence exists.

The Qur`an contains no prohibition of burial of Muslims and non-Muslims together and the same is true of the books of Hadith. One hadith that has been quoted in this connection, e.g., by Ibn Hazm, is the following:

Sahl bin Bakkar related to us: Al-Aswad bin Shayban related to us from Khalid bin Sumayr al-Sadusi from Bashir bin Nahik from Bashir (bin al-Khasasiyah), mawla of the Messenger of God (salla allah ‘alayhi wa sallam) – whose name in the time of jahiliyyah was Zahm bin Ma‘bad:

He migrated to the Messenger of God (salla allah ‘alayhi wa sallam). He asked: What is your name? He replied: Zahm. He said: No, you are Bashir (henceforth). He said: When I was walking along with the Messenger of God (salla allah ‘alayhi wa sallam) he passed by the graves of the Mushriks. He said three times: They preceded abundant good. Then he passed by the graves of the Muslims. He said: They got abundant good. The Messenger of God (salla allah ‘alayhi wa sallam) suddenly saw a man walking in shoes between the graves. He said: O one with the shoes! Woe to you! Take off your shoes. So the man looked about and recognizing the Messenger of God (salla allah ‘alayhi wa sallam), he took them off and threw them away. (Abu Da`ud 2811[2]; Nasa`i 2021, Ibn Majah 1557; Ahmad 19856, 20947[3])

This gharib[4] hadith does suggest that the graves of Muslims and non-Mushriks were separate. But note the following points:

First, scholars do not agree on the reliability of this hadith[5].

Second, the hadith can establish only that separation of burial places for Muslims and Mushriks is sunnah and not that it is fard, for there is no explicit command of the Prophet (salla allah ‘alayhi wa sallam). It is interesting that the Prophet (salla allah ‘alayhi wa sallam) explicitly commanded not to walk between the graves but the scholars generally have not accepted the prohibition of this action[6], whereas the Prophet (salla allah ‘alayhi wa sallam) nowhere commands that the Muslim and non-Muslim cemeteries be separate and yet scholars have made such separation obligatory.

Third, the hadith talks only of the Mushriks and not of the People of the Book who have been distinguished in the Qur`an from the Mushriks.

Fourth, some other ahadith suggest individual graves rather than separate cemeteries
Burying a Non-Muslim in a Muslim Cemetery

So, as i gather from this piece, Burial of two different religions together is not prohibited, but it is a Sunnah that all be buried in one place of equal faith.

But another point is that this Hadith and other instances are for people of the book, i.e Chrisitians etc, while Ahmadis are not people of the book.