Shabbir Ahmed (writer)

Dr. Shabbir Ahmed
Born August 14, 1947
Pakistan
Occupation Medical Doctor
Language Urdu , English
Citizenship American
Alma mater LMC, Jamshoro
Genre History , Islam
Subject Qur'an, Comparative Religion, Hadith, History, IndoPak Subcontinent, Philosophy, Psychology, Iqbaliat, Medicine (Qur'anic)
Literary movement non-sectarian Islam
Notable awards Scholar of the New Millennium, "Media International", Canada. Columnist of the columnists, "Khabrain" Pakistan, "Urdu Times", New York.
Website
www.ourbeacon.com

Shabbir Ahmed is a writer of books in both Urdu and English on history and Islam. He was born in Pakistan in 1947 and currently resides in Florida, United States. A medical doctor by profession, he started his military career in the Pakistan Army under Emergency Commission as a young Captain in 1971. Then he served in Royal Saudi Army (Medical Corps) and became a Brigadier General at an age of just 31. He has since made a new career as a self-proclaimed Islamic scholar, and been published in various magazines and newspapers.

Being a young member of the royal medical staff of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, he learned the Arabic language in the 1970s under the auspices of Malik Faisal bin Abdul Aziz and Malik Khalid bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia . Some dialects of Arabic are similar to the Arabic used in Muhammad's day. Ahmed has traveled and studied the Muslim world and written several books on what Islam is as well as what it is not.

Works

Dr. Shabbir Ahmed's published works include:

QXP, The Quran As It Explains Itself is one of the most popular newer renditions of the Qur'an. It has been published as a hard copy, audio CDs and is also available online at his site [www.ourbeacon.com]. It was written in a collaborative fashion on the internet with knowledgeable inputs from people across the world. It is different than most other translations of Quran due to the fact that it relies on the Quran itself to explain the verses of Quran. This method of understanding the Quran, known as tasrif, blocks external elements and narrations, thus allowing the reader to understand the Quran as it reveals itself. This is possible because of the repetitive nature of the verses in Quran, which are brief in one place but detailed in another. This internal cross referencing allows the reader to understand the Quran without the need for external material.

The simple logic of tasrif based understanding is that 'light', to be seen, does not need an external source of light'.

Criticism

In 2010 Dr. Shabbir Ahmed was criticized for alleging in his books The Criminals of Islam and Islam-The True History and False Beliefs, that after writing his 300 volumes, authoritative Imam Razi confesses: "All my intellectual and supposedly logical statements in the explanation of the Quran turned out to be lame. All the explanations of the Quran done by the so-called Imams (Tabari, Zamakhshari, Ibn Kathir, Bukhari, Muslim etc) are misguided and misleading. All of us were the tools of Satan."

He was criticized for using Imam Ibn Kathir's name in the list, since Ibn Kathir was born about 150 years after Imam Razi himself. Also he was criticized for using name of Allama Inayatullah Khan Al-Mashriqi, as the source of Imam Razi's strange confession described in page 190 of Mashriqi's book Hadith-Ul-Qur'an. In that page as well no reference could be found of the confession.

Dr. Shabbir agrees that Ibn Kathir's name should not be in the list of the Imams mentioned. Also, he advises the reader to get hold of the 1954 edition of Allama Mashriqi's book, "Hadith-ul-Quran," and go to page 190, and confirm for him- or herself.

What is found in that page is just a translation of a famous poem of Imam Razi, about the endless endeavor of people in this world, while their minds are limited, and their souls are not in harmony with their bodies, and that is why this world is full of pain and suffering, etc.[17][18]

Dr. Shabbir Ahmed was also criticized for unbalanced academic methodology, an example was; quoting stories from historical sources that the authors themselves discredited as unverified, while at the same time, Dr. Shabbir denies all the Ahadith authenticated by a large number of narrations and scholars.[19] Based on his insistence on this grave error, which was the basis of his book, and his refusal to correct it, Dr. Shabbir Ahmed was accused of academic dishonesty.[20]

Further criticism was regarding his rejection of some Islamic practices mentioned in the Holy Quran itself, for example, Dr. Shabbir claimed that the age old practice of Animal Sacrifice has no Quranic basis and is added by later Imams. While this practice is clearly stated in the Holy Quran [22:33], [22:34], [22:36], and [22:28].[21]

References

  1. ↑ THE QUR’AN AS IT EXPLAINS ITSELF, 5th edition, March 2012
  2. ↑ Islam As I Understand
  3. ↑ Islam: The True History and False Beliefs
  4. ↑ The Criminals of Islam
  5. ↑ Sir, You said it!
  6. ↑ When Is the Messiah Coming?
  7. ↑ Dual Islam
  8. ↑ Hashish From Qadian
  9. ↑ Who Wrote the Qur'an?
  10. ↑ Father of the Nation - Quaid-e-Azam
  11. ↑ A Collection of Authentic Ahadith
  12. ↑ Thus Speaks the Qur'an
  13. ↑ Thus Speaks the Bible
  14. ↑ The Ideal Prophet
  15. ↑ Islam For the Junior
  16. ↑ The exalted prophet Muhammad
  17. ↑ Inayatullah. Hadisal-Quran. p. 190.
  18. ↑ digital copy, Inayatullah. "Hadisal-Quran". Retrieved 23 February 2014.
  19. ↑ Ibn Al Ghazi. "Exposing Dr. Shabbir Ahmed – Part I". Retrieved 23 February 2014.
  20. ↑ A. Islam, Joseph. "ACADEMIC DISHONESTY - DR. SHABBIR AHMED". Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  21. ↑ Ibn Al Ghazi. "qxp exposed". Retrieved 23 February 2014.

External links