Notes and Acknowledgments

Initially the title of this article contained the word sect instead of Jama’at and the same word was used at several places in the article, however, Rafiq Tschannan sahib, Ameer Jama’at-e-Ahmadiyya Thailand pointed out that the word used in the hadith is Jama’at also, our community is called Jama’at-e-Ahmadiyya. Although the word sect may not be that negative in Urdu or Arabic, in English it gives a negative sense and hence its use should be avoided. Also Ameer sahib Jama’at-e-Ahmadiyya Canada Maulana Naseem Mehdi sahib pointed out that the word Jama’at is used for only the saved ones, and that it is considered another mean of recognizing the true ones that they will form an organized Jama’at, while for others the word Tafreeq (division/section) is used. I took the advice from both respected Umara’a and changed the word sect into Jama’at for the saved ones and have tried to use the word section for the others where ever possible.
Great help was extended to this humble one by Br. Masood Nasir sahib of Allama Iqbal Town Lahore, Pakistan. All the references quoted in sections 3, 5.3 and 5.6 were provided by him in their original form (i.e. Arabic with Urdu Translation and Urdu). He also supplied the list of sects by Munshi Mehboob ‘Alim. These references extended considerable strength to the article.
Thanks are also due to my yonger brother Ifzal A. Rauf sahib, Murabbi Jama’at-e-Ahmadiyya Baddomalli, Pakistan, who provided me the photocopies of the original editorial published in the Pakistani newspaper Nawai Waqt.
Most of all thanks are due to my dear wife Najiba Rauf and my two young boys Shahrukh (4 years old) and Sherjeel (2 years old), who despite the need and great desire for my company, allowed me to lock myself in a room over the weekends and off office hours in order to finish this and other articles I have been writing in response to allegations against Islam and Ahmadiyyat as well as responses to the questions raised by sincere seekers after truth over the internet.
World wide web (www) is an emerging tool for communication and transfer of information on the internet. It consists of a network of computer connected to each other just like the telephones across the globe are connected to each other. Sometimes a user may also use a telephone line to connect to a computer on the other side of the globe. A URL is a destination address, just like a telephone number, for the computer or the web site desired to be connected. Using the URL of a site one while sitting in one part of the world can connect and read/retrieve the contents displayed on a site in any other part of the world. Other than www sites, there are what we call technically “newsgroups” on the internet. These newsgroups are like electronic newspapers. That is where sometimes questions and/or allegations against different religions are raised. And at the same place one can write responses to questions and allegations as well as articles detailing the beauties of any religious teachings.
Those wishing to use the translation of the book of abu-Mansur by Kate C. Seelye should be warned that Kate has produced a list of the sects of Islam which she claims she extracted from the work of abu-Mansur which she translate. This list has serious errors in it which become very clear by just comparing the list with the list of abu-Mansur which he presents in chapter two of “al-Farq bain al-Firaq”. Her translation is not very good and clearly reflect some prejudices and preconceived ideas she may have had during this work. Also, she did not get a good copy of the works of abu-Mansur which she used for translation. At many places she claims the text to be not very clear at others she claims some pages missing etc. etc. So anyone wishing to follow this up should either should get hold the original works of abu-Mansur or carefully go through the translation of Kate Seelye to get the truth out.

Al Islam

Notes and Acknowledgments

73 Divisions in Islam and One True Jama'at