THE TIMES OF AHMAD is an independently run news outlet and does not claim to represent the official views of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. The Times of Ahmad assumes full responsibility for the contents of its web pages.
The idea of this website was first conceived in 2006 when an unfortunate artist in Europe created caricatures of the Founder of Islam, the Holy Prophet Mohammad (on whom be peace). The most ironic was the state of the European media which, for the most part, instead of condemning the production of such hateful works, actually supported the hate-mongering artist; helping him hide behind 'freedom of expression' excuses.
As a result, the whole hell broke loose in the Muslim Ummah and the uninformed violent factions, misled by the mullah, gave in to public display of rage. As a result rampant chaos ensued and many pledged revenge. Many Fatawas were issued for the killing of the artist, and burning down of the newspaper's offices.
Amidst the confusion of an undeniably distressing time for all Muslims, a voice of reason arose, calm and peaceful, precisely in line with the teachings of the “King of Peace” himself, the Holy Prophet Mohammad.
In his Friday Sermon following the controversy, Khalifa of Islam and the worldwide head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Hadhrat (His Holiness) Mirza Masroor Ahmad (aba) asked the world Muslims to respond to the attacks in manners compatible with Islamic teachings. His Holiness proposed that Ahmadiyya youth take up journalism as a career so that the ever-present media biases can be fought from within.
The advice by His Holiness clicked with me. Because of my personal interest in journalism I had always wanted to start a news website where I could respond to such attacks individually and immediately, and also to provide opportunity to the interested youth to practice their hand at news-gathering and news-editing.
And, that is how this enterprise was started.
The actual live news delivery started in September of 2007 and website started feeding all Ahmadiyya related headlines from Yahoo and Google news feeds. As such the site ran almost by itself. In 2008, however, the site truly became active and we started to post news, and opinion essays. In the beginning I was not satisfied with the quality and kept changing the look and feel of the website.
The look and style you see today was adopted in mid-2009 and has gained much popularity. I receive information, essays and news from all around the world to post. The purpose of the website is not taleem-o-tarbiyyat, so I am selective about the contents and post only those materials that can be termed as news or opinion.
The foregoing is an example of our singular effort. In the mean time, however, the Ahmadi Muslim journalists have their work cut out for themselves; dealing with both, the Islamist extremists and the non-Muslim Islamophobes.
I read somewhere that 'those who disagree with truth will persecute those who practice it.' So, be prepared. Because, in the final analysis, truth can be told in one way only - no two ways about it.
