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Friday Sermon January 11th, 2019 delivered by Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad(at)
NOTE: Alislam Team takes full responsibility for any errors or miscommunication in this Synopsis of the Friday Sermon.
After reciting the Tashahhud, Ta'awwuz, and Surah Al-Fatihah, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih V (aba) stated:
Hazrat Khallad Bin 'Amr Bin Jamu' Ansari was a sahabi, one of a companion of the Holy Prophet (as) who participated in the Battle of Badr. He joined the Battle of Badr along with his father Hazrat 'Amr Bin Jamu' and his brothers Hazrat Mu'az, Hazrat Abu Aiman and Hazrat Mu'awwaz.
The mother of Hazrat Khallad, Hazrat Hind bint Amr; the name of her father as well as the name of her husband was Amr, rather that was the name of her father-in-law, and she was the paternal aunt of Hazrat Jabir bin Abdullah; on the occasion of the battle of Uhud, she carried her husband, her son and her brother on a camel after they were martyred. The details of this incident are mentioned as follows - it was the Will of God the Exalted that the martyrs of Uhud should be buried in Uhud. The details of this incident are as follows: "Hazrat Ayesha (ra) left her home with some women of Medina in order to acquire information about the battle of Uhud. At that time, the commandments regarding the veil had not yet been revealed. When Hazrat Ayesha (ra) reached Harra, she encountered Hind bint Amr, who was the sister Hazrat Abdullah bin Amr. Hazrat Hind was ushering her camel forwards. The bodies of her husband, Hazrat Amr bin Jamuh, her son, Hazrat Khallad bin Amr and her brother, Hazrat Abdullah bin Amr were placed on this camel. Hazrat Ayesha (ra) inquired: 'do you have any information of the circumstances in which you have left the people behind?' When Hazrat Ayesha (ra) enquired about the circumstances of the battlefield, Hazrat Hind replied 'the Holy Prophet (sa) was fine and after him, all difficulties are easy' meaning that if the Holy Prophet (sa) is alive, nothing else matters. Following this, Hazrat Hind recited the following verse: [Arabic]. That is, 'And Allah turned back the disbelievers in their rage; they gained no good. And Allah sufficed the believers in their fight. And Allah is Powerful, Mighty.'
Hazrat Ayesha (ra) inquired who was on the camel. Upon this, Hazrat Hind replied it was my brother, my son, Khallad, and my husband, Amr bin Jamuh. I may have said father-in-law earlier, but in fact the name of Hazrat Hind's husband was Amr. Hazrat Ayesha (ra) asked "where are you taking them?" She replied, "I am taking them in order to bury them in Medina." However. Camel would not go towards Medina but walk fast in the opposite direction toward Uhud. At this, Hazrat Hind went to the Holy Prophet (sa) and related this incident to him. The Holy Prophet (sa) said that the camel had been assigned [its task]. That is Allah the Exalted had appointed it for the very task of not returning to Medina and turning back to Uhud. The Holy Prophet (sa) said: "Did your husband say anything before he went to war." She replied: "When Amr was about to set off for Uhud, he turned towards the Qibla [direction of prayer- towards the Kaba in Mecca] and said 'O Allah! Do not bring me back to my family in a state of disgrace and grant me martyrdom.'" Upon this, the Holy Prophet (sa) said: "this was the very reason the camel was not moving." The Holy Prophet (sa) then said "O group of the Ansar [Muslims living in Medina]! There are such pious individuals among you that if they take an oath in the name of God, He will most certainly fulfil that prayer and Amr bin Jamuh was also one among them. He said to Hind, wife of Amr bin Jumu: "O Hind! Since the time of your brother's martyrdom, the angels have gathered around him waiting for instructions about his burial." The Holy Prophet (sa) stayed there until the burial was finished. Then he stated: "O Hind! Amr bin Jumu, your son Khalad and your brother Abdullah have been gathered together in paradise." Hind requested: "O Messenger of Allah! Please pray for me that may God Almighty also grant me their companionship."
The second companion who will be mentioned today is Hazrat Uqba bin Aamir. The name of his mother is Fuqaihah bint Sakan and his father was Aamir bin Naabi. His mother had accepted the Holy Prophet (sa) as well and had the honor of pledging allegiance to him. Hazrat Uqba bin Aamir was amongst the first six companions who accepted Islam in Mecca and took the pledge of allegiance during the first Bai'at that took place at Aqabah. In the 11th year of prophethood, the Holy Prophet (sa) met with the people of Yathrab in Mecca. In an extremely loving tone, the Holy Prophet (sa) said to them, "Can you people listen to a few things I have to say?" They said, "Yes, what do you say?" The Holy Prophet (sa) took a seat and invited them to Islam, recited a few verses of the Holy Qur'an and informed them of his mission. These people looked at each other and said, "This is our opportunity, lest the Jews excel us," and saying this, they all became Muslim. Hazrat Uqbah bin Aamir (ra) was one of those six people, who accepted Islam at this occasion. After this, these people took leave of the Holy Prophet (sa) and upon their departure, said: "We have been greatly weakened by civil war, and there are many disagreements between us. We shall go to Yathrab and preach Islam to our brothers. How remarkable would it be that Allah the Exalted may gather us again through you. Then we shall be fit to assist you in every way." Therefore, these people left, and due to them, Islam began to find popularity in Yathrab.
This year was spent in Makkah by the Holy Prophet (sa) in concern and anticipation for the people of Yathrab with regards to their physical means. The Holy Prophet (sa) would often think, 'Let us see the outcome of these six converts, and if there are any signs of success in Yathrab or not?' Therefore, when the occasion of Ḥajj came the Holy Prophet (sa) very avidly left his home and reached Aqabah, near Mina, and looked here and there. Suddenly, the Holy Prophet (sa) noticed a small group of the people of Yathrab, who immediately recognized the Holy Prophet (sa). They came forward and met the Holy Prophet (sa) with extreme love and sincerity. This time there were twelve people, among whom five were converts of the previous year and seven were new. They belonged to both the Aus and the Khazraj tribes. The Holy Prophet (sa) met these people separately in a valley. They informed him as to the state of affairs in Yathrab and this time they all took Bai'at at his hand. This Bai'at served as a foundation stone for Islam in Madinah. The wording of the Bai'was, 'We shall believe in one God, shall not associate partners with God, shall not steal, shall not commit adultery or fornication, shall abstain from murder, shall not defame anyone, and shall obey you [the Holy Prophet (sa)] in everything good.' After Bai'at, the Holy Prophet (sa) said: 'If you remain true to this pledge in honesty and steadfastness then you shall receive paradise. But if you show weakness then your matter is with Allah the Exalted, for He shall do what He wills.'In history, this Bai'at is renowned as 'The First Bai'at at Aqabah', because the place where this Bai'at was taken was called Aqabah, which is situated between Makkah and Mina. The literal meaning of Aqabah is an elevated mountainous pass. Whilst departing from Makkah, these twelve new Muslim converts requested, "Please send an Islamic tutor with us, who can teach us Islam and can preach Islam to our idolatrous brothers as well." The Holy Prophet (sa) sent Muṣ'ab bin Umair (ra), a very devout young man from the Abdud-Dar tribe along with them. Hazrat Uqba bin Aamir participated in all the battles alongside the Holy Prophet (sa) including the battles of Badr, Uhud and Khandaq. He was noticeable in his armour on the day of Badr because of his green clothes. He was martyred in 12 Hijri during the battle of Yamama which took place during the Caliphate of Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra). Hazrat Uqba bin Aamir states: "I came before the Holy Prophet (sa) with my son who was very young [at the time]. I said to the Prophet of Allah (sa): 'May my parents be sacrificed for your sake, please teach my son those prayers which he can recite before God and bless him.'" The Holy Prophet (sa) stated: "O child! Recite [arabic] which means 'O Allah! I seek health from You in the state of being a believer and sincerely pray for compassion and pray for success after attaining virtue."
May Allah Almighty continuously elevate the ranks of the Companions.
After this, I will now mention about a pioneering noble Ahmadi woman from America and will also lead her funeral prayers after the Friday prayers. Her name was Sister Aaliya Shaheed sahiba, wife of the late Ahmad Shaheed sahib. She passed away on 26 December. God Almighty had bestowed her with a long life and enabled her to serve [the Jamaat] and also protected her from any handicap. She was 105 years old. May Allah Almighty exalt her rank. To Allah we belong and to Him shall we return.
Amir Sahib USA has written about her that she pledged allegiance in 1936, and from 1963-66, served at Sadr Lajna [National President of the Ladies Auxiliary Organisation]. Similarly, her services spanned 50 years in which she had the opportunity to serve in various capacities, ranging from General Secretary to Secretary Talim and Secretary Finance, Sadr Lajna Muqami, and Secretary of Khidmat Khalq. She always maintained a strong connection with the Jama'at and Khilafat, and always remained vigilant and ready for every type of sacrifice. She was an extremely kind and loving woman. She had committed to memory the early accounts of the Jama'at Ahmadiyya USA, which she often used to narrate.
She was always in search of knowledge. She spent her time in the upkeep of the Mosque, cooking, offering daily prayers. It was not the case that she only tried to gain knowledge, but she humbly used to perform Waqar-e-Amal, and serve the Jama'at with her own hands. Cleaning the Mosque and cooking were her roles.
She strived to her utmost in promoting unity and sisterhood of the members of Lajna, for which she wrote numerous individual letters to members of Lajna in her final days." Sadr Lajna writes that there was one verse of the Holy Qur'an which she used to often repeat which I've heard from her as well, [Arabic] She reports that she would always repeat this. That is, Verily, Allah loves those who fight in His cause arrayed in solid ranks, as though they were a strong structure cemented with molten lead.
The Sadr Lajna has written "Sister Aaliyah would tell us that –during her time- as 98% of Lajna members had only recently joined the Jama'at by way of pledging allegiance, in the beginning, they would only enjoin them to offer the five daily prayers and keep fasts in the month of Ramazan. Likewise, instead of making them wear the Hijab from day one, we would start by bringing their attention to wearing appropriate clothing, telling them to first make their clothing suitable. Then the next step would be to wear the Hijab." Unlike a trend that has commenced nowadays that those even wearing the Hijab have began taking it off. She -on the other hand- would guide them from one step to the next striving to provide spiritual training.
Then, Sister Aaliyah put great effort in teaching basic recitation of the Qur'an by preparing daily teaching programs. Like this, those Lajna members who would finish learning the basic recitation of the Holy Qur'an, she would bring their attention daily towards covering some commentary of the Holy Qur'an. 'On 23rd March 2008 she spoke to the members of Lajna stating that all the followers of the Promised Messiah(as) around the world gathered in the mosques and mission houses on 1st January to offer the tahajjud prayers as an act of thanksgiving, so why can we not do this once again this year, as it marks one hundred years since the Khilafat of our beloved Promised Messiah(as) was established?' She further writes, 'O my Allah! Remove all hurdles in the progress of Ahmadiyyat and grant us that victory which You have promised us. Our Promised Messiah(as) has laid the foundations for this Jama'at and united us all as one body. It is due of him that we Ahmadis feel the pain of one another, help each other in times of difficulty, pray for one another, partake of the happiness of another and are aggrieved by the suffering of another. By the grace and mercy of God Almighty we are one.'
She then wrote in her message to the new converts in Lajna Ima'illah there, 'It is God Almighty's special favour and I am extremely fortunate to have witnessed the progress of the Jama'at with my own eyes. God Almighty has graced us by choosing our Jama'at for the propagation and service of Islam. Every week we have the opportunity to listen to the Khilafa of the time and advance in our worldly affairs and progress in our faith by acting upon his is instructions.' In the end she wrote, 'I pray O my Master! Remove all hurdles in the progress of Ahmadiyyat. Make us the true portrayal of our faith and grant us countless helpers.' Thus, she played a special role, with the circumstances there, in keeping the African-American new converts together.
Another Ahmadi, Dr Rashida Ahmad, who is also originally from America, states: "She herself would strictly adhere to the teachings of Islam but would advise others in a very loving manner. The love of God Almighty was reflected from her every action and deed."
Another Lajna member, Khulat Sahiba, writes: "I became acquainted with Aliyah Sahiba when I first came to USA in 1949. I was eight years old at the time when I first met her. She was extremely loving and friendly and had a personality that would leave a positive impression on others. She had an extremely long-held and firm bond with Khilafat. She would mention about her correspondence in letters with Hazrat Musleh Maud (ra). Her services for Lajna Imaillah USA will always be remembered. She had an astounding spiritual persona and despite being a hundred years old, she would attend the Jalsas [annual conventions] which serves as a model for us."
May God Almighty elevate her status. And, the spirit and passion she had to serve the Jama'at – which her son also mentioned – may God Almighty instil that in her progeny as well.
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After reciting the Tashahud, Ta'awuz, and Surah al-Fatihah, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih V(aa) stated:
Hazrat Khallad bin Amr bin Jamuh(ra) Ansari was amongst the Companions(ra) of the Holy Prophet(sa) who participated in the Battle of Badr. He joined the Battle of Badr along with his father Hazrat Amr bin Jamuh(ra) and his brothers Hazrat Mu'az(ra), Hazrat Abu Aiman(ra) and Hazrat Mu'awwaz(ra). It is also said regarding Hazrat Abu Aiman(ra) that he was not his brother but the freed slave of his father, Hazrat Amr(ra) bin Jamu. (Usdul Ghaba, Vol. 1, p. 184, Khallad Bin Amr(ra), Dar-ul-Kutub Ilmiyyah, Beirut, 2003)
When the Holy Prophet(sa) set out for the Battle of Badr, he, along with his army, camped at Suqya, which is situated on the outskirts of Medina.
Hazrat Abdullah(ra) bin Qatadah narrates from his father that the Messenger(sa) of Allah offered the prayer at Suqya, a place on the outskirts of Medina, where there was also a well and he prayed for the people of Medina.
Hazrat Addi(ra) bin Abi Al-Zaghba and Hazrat Basbas(ra) bin Amr came to the Holy Prophet(sa) at that same location where they had camped, and according to other narrations, Hazrat Abdullah(ra) bin Amr bin Haram also came to see the Holy Prophet(sa). They submitted:
"O Messenger(sa) of Allah! You camping here and assessing the strength of the army is indeed an excellent thing and we consider this as a good omen. The reason for this is because when the battle between us, i.e. Banu Salama, and Ahl-e-Husaiqa took place, we camped at this exact same location." He is referring to an earlier incident prior to the advent of Islam. "On the outskirts of Medina there is a mountain called Zubab, and Husaiqa was situated not too far from there, where a lot of Jews resided."
He further states:
"It was at this location that we also carried out an assessment of our army and only permitted those who possessed the strength for fighting. Those who did not carry the strength to hold a weapon were sent back. Thereafter we advanced towards the Jews of Husaiqa. At the time, the Jews of Husaiqa wielded the most influence over the rest of the Jews. We then killed them in whichever manner we could."
A huge battle took place between them. It was for this reason that he said to the Holy Prophet(sa):
"O Messenger(sa) of Allah! I am hopeful that when we are up against the Quraish, God Almighty will grant your eyes comfort in relation to them, i.e. you will be granted victory just as we were granted victory before."
Hazrat Khallad bin Amr(ra) relates: "At sunrise, I went to my family in Khurba." Khurba is the name of the area where there were houses of Banu Salama. He further states: "My father, Hazrat Amr bin Jamuh(ra), said, 'I thought, you had left already.'"
In the earlier narration, it mentioned that the father, Amr bin Jamuh, also participated in the Battle of Badr. However, from this narration and later narrations, we find that he in fact did not participate.
"I told him [i.e. his father] that the Holy Prophet(sa) is inspecting and assessing the numbers in the fields of Suqya. Upon this, Hazrat Amr(ra) said, 'What a great omen it is! By Allah, I am hoping that you would attain the spoils of war and a victory over the Idolaters of the Quraish. The day we marched towards Husaiqah, we also camped at that same place.'"
He is also confirming the earlier narration, which has been mentioned previously regarding the battle that took place between them and the Jews.
Hazrat Khallad(ra) narrates:
"The Holy Prophet(sa) changed the name of Husaiqa to Suqya. I had the desire in my heart to purchase the plot of land in Suqya. However, Hazrat Sa'd bin Abi Waqqas(ra) had already purchased it before me in exchange of two camels." According to other sources, he had purchased it for seven Auqia of silver i.e. two hundred and eighty dirhams. "When this matter was mentioned to the Holy Prophet(sa), he said:
رَبِحَ الْبَيْعُ
Meaning, this bargain was very profitable." (Kitab-ul-Maghazi, Vol. 1, pp. 37-38, Dar-ul-Kutub Ilmiyyah, Beirut, 2013) (Mujam-ul-Baldan, Vol. 3, p. 258, Suqya, Dar-ul-Kutub Ilmiyyah, Beirut) (Wafa-ul-Wafa, Vol. 3, p. 1200, Khurba, Dar-ul-Kutub Ilmiyyah, Beirut, 1984) (Lughat-ul-Hadith, Vol. 1, p. 82, Auqia, Ali Asif Printer, Lahore, 2005)
Hazrat Khallad's(ra) father, Hazrat Amr bin Jamuh(ra) did not participate in the Battle of Badr. Hazrat Khallad(ra), his father, Hazrat Amr bin Jamuh(ra) and Hazrat Abu Aiman(ra) participated in the Battle of Uhud and all three attained martyrdom during this battle. (Mustadrak Ala Al-Sahihain, Vol. 3, p. 226, Kitab Marifatu Al-Sahaba, Dar-ul-Kutub Ilmiyyah, Beirut, 2002)
In other words, he himself, his brother and his father; all three participated in the Battle of Uhud. However, his father did not participate in the Battle of Badr. Although he desired to participate, however, due to his leg – he had a limp and was physically impaired in one leg – his sons stopped him from participating in the Battle of Badr.
In relation to Hazrat Khallad's(ra) father, Hazrat Amr bin Jamuh(ra), it is mentioned that on the occasion of Badr, when the Holy Prophet(sa)urged [the Muslims] to participate in Jihad, Amr's sons stopped him from taking part in the battle due to an injury to his foot. God Almighty has also exempted those that are handicapped from participating in battle. For this reason, his sons also told him not to participate and said that since four of his sons were going to fight, what need was there for him to go; especially since God Almighty had already excused him. Hence, despite his heartfelt desire, he did not participate in the Battle of Badr upon the advice of his sons. However, when the Battle of Uhud took place, Amr(ra) said to his sons, "Since you did not allow me to participate in the Battle of Badr, now that the Battle of Uhud is about to take place, you will not be able to stop me this time. I will most certainly go and participate in Uhud."
In any case, he said to them that they would not be able to prevent him and that he would certainly participate. Upon this, his children tried to stop him due to his disability. However, he went to the Holy Prophet(sa) himself in order to seek permission from him. Hence, he presented himself before the Holy Prophet(sa) and submitted: "My sons are trying to stop me from participating in Jihad once again. At first, they stopped me from taking part in the Battle of Badr and now they are again not allowing me to go to Uhud. I wish to participate in this Jihad alongside you." He further said: "By God! I am hopeful that God Almighty will accept my heartfelt desire and grant me martyrdom and that I will enter paradise with this handicapped foot of mine."
The Holy Prophet(sa) replied, "O Amr! There is no doubt that God Almighty has excused you owing to your disability and Jihad has not been made obligatory upon you." The Holy Prophet(sa) then said to his sons, "You should not prevent him from performing virtuous deeds. If this is his heartfelt desire, then allow him to fulfil it. Perhaps God Almighty will grant him martyrdom."
Hence, Hazrat Amr(ra) took hold of his weapons and set off towards the field of Uhud whilst reciting the following prayer:
اَللّٰهُمَّ ارْزُقْنِي شَهَادَةَ وَلَا تَرُدَّنِيْ اِلٰي اَهْلِيْ خَائِبًا
That is, "O Allah! Grant me martyrdom and do not allow me to return to my family in a state of failure." God Almighty accepted his supplication and he attained martyrdom there. (Usdul Ghaba, Vol. 4, pp. 195-196, Khallad bin Amr(ra), Dar-ul-Kutub Ilmiyyah, Beirut, 2003)
The mother of Hazrat Khallad(ra) was Hazrat Hind bint Amr(ra) (Amr was her father's name as well as the name of her husband) and she was the paternal aunt of Hazrat Jabir bin Abdullah(ra). On the occasion of the battle of Uhud, she carried her husband, her son and her brother on a camel after they were martyred. However, when the instruction was issued with regard to them, they were brought back to Uhud and buried there. (Asaba, Vol. 2, p. 287, Dar-ul-Kutub Al-Ilmiyyah, Beirut, 1995)
When she found out that they had been martyred, she brought them to Medina, but later brought them back [to Uhud]. The details of this incident have been given further on.
It was the Will of God Almighty that the martyrs of Uhud should be buried in Uhud. The details of this incident are as follows:
"Hazrat Aisha(ra) left her home with some women of Medina in order to acquire information about the battle of Uhud. At that time, the commandments regarding the veil had not yet been revealed. When Hazrat Aisha(ra) reached Harra, she met Hind bint Amr(ra), who was the sister of Hazrat Abdullah bin Amr(ra). Hazrat Hind at the time was ushering her camel forwards. The bodies of her husband, Hazrat Amr bin Jamuh(ra), her son, Hazrat Khallad bin Amr(ra) and her brother, Hazrat Abdullah bin Amr(ra) were placed on this camel. Hazrat Aisha(ra) enquired about the situation on the battlefield and asked her, 'Do you have any information of the circumstances of those whom you have left behind?' Hazrat Hind(ra) replied, 'The Holy Prophet(sa) is fine and after him, all difficulties are easy to bear', meaning that if the Holy Prophet(sa) was alive, then nothing else mattered. Following this, Hazrat Hind(ra) recited the following verse:
وَرَدَّ اللّٰهُ الَّذِيْنَ كَفَرُوْا بِغَيْظِهِمْ لَمْ يَنَالُوْا خَيْرًا وَكَفَى اللّٰهُ الْمُؤْمِنِيْنَ الْقِتَالَ وَكَانَ اللّٰهُ قَوِيًّا عَزِيزًا
"That is, 'And Allah turned back the disbelievers in their rage; they gained no good. And Allah sufficed the believers in their fight. And Allah is Powerful, Mighty.' (Surah al-Ahzab: V.26)
Hazrat Aisha(ra) enquired who was on the camel. Upon this, Hazrat Hind(ra) replied that it was her brother, her son, Khallad(ra), and her husband, Amr bin Jamuh(ra). Hazrat Aisha(ra) then asked, 'where are you taking them?' She replied, 'I am taking them to Medina in order to bury them.'
"Again, she ushered her camel to move forward, however the camel sat down on the same place. Hazrat Aisha(ra) said that it was carrying too much weight. Upon this, Hazrat Hind(ra) replied, 'It has the strength to carry the load of two camels, but at this moment in time it is acting in complete contrast to this.' She then rebuked the camel upon which it stood up. When she turned it towards the direction of Medina, it sat down again. However, when she turned it towards the direction of Uhud, it started to move quickly. Following this, Hazrat Hind(ra) went to the Holy Prophet(sa) and related this incident to him. The Holy Prophet(sa) said that the camel had been assigned [to fulfil this task]. That is, God Almighty had appointed it for the very task of not returning to Medina and turning back to Uhud. The Holy Prophet(as) then asked, 'Did your husband say anything before he left for battle?' She replied, 'When Amr(ra) was about to set off in the direction of Uhud, he turned towards the Qibla[direction of Ka'bah in Mecca] and said, "O Allah! Do not bring me back to my family in a state of disgrace and grant me martyrdom."' Upon this, the Holy Prophet(sa) said, 'This was the very reason the camel was not moving.' The Holy Prophet(sa) then said, 'O Ansar[Muslim natives of Medina]! There are such pious individuals among you that if they take an oath in the name of God, He will most certainly fulfil that prayer and Amr bin Jamuh(ra) was also one of those.'
"The Holy Prophet(sa) then said to Hind(ra), wife of Amr bin Jamuh(ra), 'O Hind! From the moment your brother was martyred, the angels have covered him in their shade waiting to know where his burial will take place.' The Holy Prophet(sa) remained [in Uhud] until all the martyrs were buried. Then he stated, 'O Hind(ra)! Amr bin Jamuh(ra), your son, Khallad(ra), and your brother, Abdullah(ra) are all together in paradise.' Upon this, Hind(ra) requested, 'O Messenger(sa) of Allah! Please pray for me that God Almighty may also grant me their companionship.'" (Kitab-ul-Maghazi, Vol. 1, pp. 232-233, Ghazwa-e-Uhud, Darul Kutub Al-Ilmiyyah, Beirut, 2013)
The second companion who will be mentioned today is Hazrat Uqbah bin Aamir(ra). The name of his mother is Fuqaihah bint Sakan(ra) and his father was Aamir bin Naabi. His mother had accepted the Holy Prophet(sa) as well and had the honour of pledging allegiance to him. Hazrat Uqbah bin Aamir(ra) was amongst the first six Ansar who accepted Islam in Mecca and later took the pledge of allegiance during the first Bai'at that took place at Aqabah. (Al-Tabaqaat-ul-Kubra, Vol. 3, p. 428, Uqbah bin Aamir(ra), Dar-ul-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah, Beirut, 1990) (Al-Tabaqaat-ul-Kubra, Vol. 8, p. 301, Fuqaihah bint Sakan(ra), Dar-ul-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah, Beirut, 1990)
The details of this incident have been written by Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad Sahib(ra) in Sirat Khatamun-Nabiyyin [The Life and Character of the Seal of Prophets(sa)] in which he explains how the message of Islam reached Medina through the efforts of the Holy Prophet(sa):
"During the Ashhur-e-Hurum [sacred months in Islam], as per his custom, while the Holy Prophet(sa) was visiting tribes, he found that a renowned man from Yathrab, Suwaid bin Samit was staying in Mecca. Suwaid was a famous man from Medina, who on account of his courage, generosity and other qualities was called 'Kamil'; he was also a poet. Ascertaining his whereabouts, the Holy Prophet(sa)reached his encampment and invited him to Islam. He said, 'I also possess a special book named Mujallah Luqman.' The Holy Prophet(sa) responded, 'Let me hear a portion of it as well,' upon which he recited a portion of this scripture. The Holy Prophet(sa)praised it saying, 'There are good things in it, but the book which I possess is extraordinarily exalted and sublime.' As such, the Holy Prophet(sa) recited a portion of the Holy Quran to him. When the Holy Prophet(sa) finished, he said, 'Indeed, this is a very good book.' Although he did not become a Muslim, he completely agreed with the Holy Prophet(sa) and did not reject him. Alas, after his return to Medina, he did not receive much respite, and was killed in a conflict. This is prior to the Battle of Buaath.
"After that, during the same era, that is, prior to the Battle of Buaath, the Holy Prophet(sa) was visiting tribes during the occasion of Hajj, when he suddenly spotted a few men. These people were from the Aus tribe, and had come to seek help from the Quraish against their idolatrous rivals, the Khazraj. This occurrence is also prior to the Battle of Buaath, thus, their seeking assistance was a part of their preparations of war. The Holy Prophet(sa) went to them and invited them to Islam. Upon hearing his address, a young man named Iyas could not restrain himself and said, 'By God, to which this man (Muhammad(sa)) calls us, is greater than that for which we have come here.' (I.e. it is better to turn towards to God rather than our plea to assist us with the war.) But the chieftain of that group took a handful of pebbles and threw them at his face, saying, 'Be quiet! We have not come here for this purpose!' and in this manner the matter was disposed of. However, it is written that when Iyas returned to his homeland and was about to die, the words of the Kalimah[Muslim declaration of faith] were upon his tongue.
"Sometime afterwards, when the Battle of Buaath had taken place, in Rajab 11 Nabawi, the Holy Prophet(sa) happened to meet the people of Yathrab once again. (This happened in the 11th year of his prophethood.) When the Holy Prophet(sa) enquired as to their genealogy, he found that they belonged to the Khazraj, and had come from Yathrab. In an extremely loving tone, the Holy Prophet(sa)said to them, 'Can you people listen to a few things I have to say?' They said, 'Yes, what do you say?' The Holy Prophet(sa) took a seat and invited them to Islam, recited a few verses of the Holy Quran and informed them of his mission. These people looked at each other and said, 'This is our opportunity, lest the Jews excel us,' and saying this, they all became Muslim. These were six people, whose names are as follows:
Abu Umamah As'ad bin Zurarah(ra)who was from the Banu Najjar, and was the very first in his affirmation
Auf bin Harith(ra)who was also from the Banu Najjar, which was the tribe of the maternal kindred of Abdul-Muttalib, the grandfather of the Holy Prophet(sa)
Rafi bin Malik(ra)who was from the Banu Zuraiq. On this occasion, the Holy Prophet(sa)bestowed the entirety of the Holy Quran to him, which had been revealed thus far
Qutbah bin Aamir(ra)who was from the Bani Salamah
Uqbah bin Aamir(ra)who was from the Bani Haram (the incident is in relation to him); Uqbah bin Aamir(ra)was a Badri Companion
Jabir bin Abdullah bin Riaab(ra)who was from the Bani Ubaid
"After this, these people took leave of the Holy Prophet(sa) and upon their departure, said:
'We have been greatly weakened by civil war, and there are many disagreements between us. We shall go to Yathrab and preach Islam to our brothers. How remarkable would it be that Allah the Exalted may gather us again through you! Then we shall be fit to assist you in every way.'
"Therefore, these people left, and due to them, Islam began to find popularity in Yathrab.
"This year was spent in Mecca by the Holy Prophet(sa) in concern and anticipation for the people of Yathrab with regard to their physical means. The Holy Prophet(sa) would often think, 'Let us see the outcome of these six converts, and if there are any signs of success in Yathrab or not?' For the Muslims as well, with respect to physical means, this era was one of concern and anticipation. At times, there would be a flicker of hope, and at times no hope at all. They saw that the leaders of Mecca and the chieftains of Taif had sternly rejected the mission of the Holy Prophet(sa), and one by one, the various tribes of Arabia had also put a stamp on their condemnation. A ray of hope began to shine in Medina, but who could figure that this ray of light could stand before storms of affliction and torture, against the cyclones of hardship?
"On the other hand, the cruelties of the Meccans were growing day by day, for they understood well that now was the time to erase Islam. But even in this delicate era (such a vulnerable era had not befallen Islam), the Holy Prophet(sa) and his Companions stood in their place like a firm mountain. At times, the determination and steadfastness of the Holy Prophet(sa) would even put his enemies to astonishment: after all, what kind of inner-strength does this man possess? For nothing seems to move him from his place. Rather, in that era, the words of the Holy Prophet(sa) especially possessed a kind of power and awe. (When the Holy Prophet(sa) would speak, he would do so with power and awe) and in these fierce storms, the Holy Prophet(sa) would become even more courageous. On one side, if this sight astonished the Quraish, on the other, it also made their hearts tremble. With regards to these days, Sir William Muir writes:
'Mohammad thus holding his people at bay; waiting in the still expectation of victory; to outward appearance defenceless, and with his little band (i.e. the followers of the Holy Prophet(sa)) as it were in the lion's mouth; yet trusting in His Almighty power whose Messenger he believed himself to be, resolute and unmoved'
"Sir William Muir further says:
'Mohammad stood unmoved with such determination that nothing could displace him. This presents a spectacle of sublimity paralleled only by such scenes in the Sacred Records as that of the prophet of Israel when he complained to his master, 'I, even I only, am left.'
"He further writes:
'Nay, seeing Mohammad in this manner is in one point of view even more amazing than the prophets of Israel. The following words of Mohammad were said on this occasion: "O my people! Work ye in your place. Wait in expectation; WE too in expectancy are waiting."'
"Therefore, this was a vulnerable era for Islam, in that there was no expectancy from the Meccans. But a ray of hope was developing in Medina, and the Holy Prophet(sa) keenly had his eyes set in that direction. Would Medina also reject the Holy Prophet(sa) like Mecca and Taif, or did it hold a different destiny? Therefore, when the occasion of Hajj came, the Holy Prophet(sa) very avidly left his home and reached Aqabah, near Mina, and looked here and there. Suddenly, the Holy Prophet(sa) noticed a small group of the people of Yathrab, who immediately recognised the Holy Prophet(sa). They came forward and met the Holy Prophet(sa) with extreme love and sincerity. This time there were twelve people, among whom five were converts of the previous year and seven were new. They belonged to both the Aus and the Khazraj. Their names are as follows:
Abu Umamah As'ad bin Zurarah(ra)
Auf bin Harith(ra)
Rafi' bin Malik(ra)
Qutbah bin Amir(ra)
Uqbah bin Amir(ra)(Uqbah bin Aamir came this year aswell. The incidents are being narrated about his life, he returned for the Hajj this year as well)
Mu'adh bin Harith(ra), who was from the Bani Najjar
Zakwan bin Abdi Qais(ra)from the Banu Zariq tribe
Abu Abdur-Rahman Yazid bin Tha'labah(ra)from the Bani Bali tribe
Ubadah bin Samit who was from the Bani Auf branch of the Khazraj tribe
Abbas bin Ubadah bin Nadlah from the Bani Salim tribe
Abul-Haitham bin Tayyihan from the Bani Abdil-Ashhal and
Uwaim bin Sa'idah who was from the Bani 'Amr bin Auf clan of the Aus tribe.
"The Holy Prophet(sa) met these people separately in a valley. They informed him as to the state of affairs in Yathrab and this time they all took Bai'at at his hand. This Bai'at served as a foundation stone for Islam in Medina. Since Jihad of the sword had not yet been ordained, the Holy Prophet(sa) took Bai'at only in the words in which he would take Bai'at from the women after Jihad (by the sword) was obligated. In other words, 'We shall believe in one God, shall not associate partners with God, shall not steal, shall not commit adultery or fornication, shall abstain from murder, shall not defame anyone, and shall obey you [the Holy Prophet(sa)] in everything good.' After the Bai'at, the Holy Prophet(sa) said:
'If you remain true to this pledge in honesty and steadfastness then you shall receive paradise. But if you show weakness then your matter is with Allah the Exalted, for He shall do what He wills.'
"In history, this Bai'at is renowned as 'The First Bai'at at Aqabah', because the place where this Bai'at was taken was called Aqabah, which is situated between Mecca and Mina. The literal meaning of Aqabah is an elevated mountainous pass.
"Whilst departing from Mecca, these twelve new Muslim converts requested, 'Please send an Islamic tutor with us, who can teach us Islam and can preach Islam to our idolatrous brothers as well.' The Holy Prophet(sa) sent Mus'ab bin Umair(ra), a very devout young man from the Abdud-Dar tribe along with them. An Islamic preacher was referred to as a Qari or Muqri in those days, because the majority of their work was to recite the Holy Quran, as this was the best method of preaching. As such, Mus'ab(ra) was also renowned by the name Muqri in Yathrab. The second Bai'at at Aqabah took place in 13 Nabawi and 70 Ansar participated in it." (Sirat Khatamun-Nabiyyin, Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad(ra), pp. 221-225 & 227)
Hazrat Uqba bin Amir(ra) participated in all the battles alongside the Holy Prophet(sa) including the battles of Badr, Uhud and Khandaq. He was noticeable in his armour on the day of Uhud because of his green clothes. He was martyred in 12 Hijri during the battle of Yamama which took place during the Caliphate of Hazrat Abu Bakr(ra). (Al-Tabaqaat-ul-Kubra, Vol. 3, p. 428, Uqba bin Amir(ra), Dar-ul-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah, Beirut, 1995)
Hazrat Uqba bin Amir(ra) states: "I came before the Holy Prophet(sa)with my son who was very young at the time. I said to the Prophet(sa)of Allah 'May my parents be sacrificed for your sake, please teach my son those prayers which he can recite before God and acquire His blessings.' The Holy Prophet(sa) stated: 'O child! Recite:
اَللّٰهُمَّ اِنِّي اَسْئَلُكَ صِحَّةً فِي اِيْمَانٍ وَ اِيْمَانًا فِيْ حُسْنِ خُلُقٍ وَ صَلَاحًا يَتْبَعُهٗ نَجَاحٌ
Which means, "O Allah! I seek wellbeing in my state of faith and good disposition whilst in my state of faith, and pray for success after attaining virtue." (Usdul Ghaba, Vol. 4, p. 25, Uqba bin Amir(ra), Dar-ul-Kutub Ilmiyyah, Beirut, 2003)
May Allah Almighty continuously elevate the ranks of the Companions(ra).
After this, I will now mention a pioneering noble Ahmadi woman from America and will also lead her funeral prayers after the Friday prayers. Her name was Sister Aaliyah Shaheed Sahiba, wife of the late Ahmad Shaheed Sahib. She passed away on 26 December. God Almighty had bestowed her with a long life and enabled her to serve [the Jamaat] and also protected her from any form of handicap. She was 105 years old. May Allah Almighty exalt her rank.
اِنَّا لِلّٰہِ وَاِنَّا اِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُوْنَ
'To Allah we belong and to Him shall we return.'
Amir Sahib USA has written about her that she pledged allegiance in 1936, and from 1963-66, served at sadr Lajna [national president of the ladies auxiliary organisation]. Similarly, her services spanned 50 years in which she had the opportunity to serve in various capacities, including general secretary to secretary finance and secretary talim, secretary of khidmat-e-khalq and sadr Lajna Muqami. She always maintained a strong connection with the Jamaat and Khilafat, and always remained ready for every type of sacrifice. She was an extremely kind and loving woman. She had committed to memory the early accounts of Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya USA, which she often used to narrate.
She also had the opportunity to invite Sir Chaudhry Zafrulla Khan Sahib(ra) to her home for dinner. Her husband, respected Ahmad Shaheed Sahib, also served in the national amila of USA and as the president of the Pittsburgh Jamaat. Among those she left behind is her only son Umar Shaheed Sahib, who, for the last 18 years, has been serving as the sadr of Pittsburgh Jamaat. She was an African American.
The National President of Lajna USA writes about sister Aaliyah:
"Her lifestyle, her words, and her every action demonstrated that she acted in complete accordance with her pledge of allegiance which she had made 76 years ago. Her services were not just limited to USA. In fact, she was known for her services all over the world."
The national branches of the Lajna Auxiliary for every country used to be centralised under the sadr Lajna of Pakistan, at which time Hazrat Maryam Siddiqa Sahiba, who was the wife of Hazrat Musleh-e-Maud(ra), served as sadr Lajna of the entire world. Even she praised the late Aaliyah Sahiba's contributions. Sadr Sahiba Lajna USA continues by saying:
"Her name before converting was Ella Louise, and her fiancé's name was William Frank Browning, who was an active member of the African Methodist Church. They were busy in their wedding preparations and their wedding was soon to take place when her fiancé received the message of Ahmadiyyat, and along with his parents, he converted to Ahmadiyyat. After this he changed his name to Ahmad Shaheed. Although she got married, however she did not perform the Bai'at. Soon after, Ahmad Shaheed Sahib was elected as the president of Pittsburgh Jamaat. Not only was he very popular in his local Jamaat but his tabligh efforts earned him repute all over the country. Around the same time they had a son whom he named Umar.
"Aaliyah Sahiba lived with her Ahmadi in-laws, and without telling them or her husband, she secretly began reading the Jamaat's literature. During this time, she came across Hazrat Musleh-e-Maud's(ra) book entitled Ahmadiyyat or the True Islam and this had a deep effect on her.
"After this she started partaking in the tarbiyat classes that were organised in her home. Then, one day, she heard a lecture of Bengali Sahib – Abdur Rahman Bengali – who was serving as a missionary there at the time, which was on the Promised Messiah's teaching that Jesus(as) was saved from the cross and subsequently migrated to Kashmir."
Sadr Lajna USA writes: "The late sister Aaliyah used to tell us that after this, she stopped attending the church and began coming to the mosque instead. Finally, in 1936, she accepted Ahmadiyyat. Explaining how she chose the name Aaliyah for herself, she said that she saw the name in a book once and liked it so she adopted it after becoming an Ahmadi. She was always in search of knowledge. She spent her time in the upkeep of the mosque, cooking, offering daily prayers. It was not the case that she only tried to gain knowledge, but she humbly used to perform Waqar-e-Amal, and serve the Jamaat with her own hands. She would perform the duty of cleaning the mosque and cooking."
Sadr Sahiba further writes: "We always saw her offering prayers, and she was a woman of extremely high morals; she was often seen visiting and looking after the sick. We also witnessed her offering financial contributions. Among the Lajna, she was always enjoining others towards good in one way or another. She strived to her utmost in promoting unity and sisterhood of the members of Lajna, for which she wrote numerous individual letters to members of Lajna in her final days." Sadr Lajna further writes: "There was one verse of the Holy Quran that she used to often repeat, which I have heard from her as well,
اِنَّ اللہَ يُحِبُّ الَّذِيْنَ يُقَاتِلُوْنَ فِيْ سَبِيْلِهٖ صَفًّا كَاَنَّهُمْ بُنْيَانٌ مَّرْصُوْصٌ
"She reports that she would always repeat this. That is, 'Verily, Allah loves those who fight in His cause arrayed in solid ranks, as though they were a strong structure cemented with molten lead.'
Sadr Lajna has further written:
"She was the first one to establish the Mosque Fund in the United States of America. Similarly, she started the Muslims Student Scholarship Award. The first annual Ijtema was held under her tenure as sadr Lajna. Similarly, she started the National Tabligh Day in which Lajna members would send thousands of copies of the Holy Quran, introductory leaflets and pamphlets of the Jamaat to libraries across the country. She also started a magazine and Hazrat (Choti Apa) Mariyam Siddiqah – the then International Sadr Lajna – chose Aishah as its title. She also published constitutional guidelines for the Lajna titled Our Duties and The Path of Faith. As a result of her initiative, members of Lajna in the United States presented great sacrifices for the Denmark mosque project. Likewise, they presented funds for the refurbishment of the mission houses in Baltimore as well as Pittsburgh."
Sadr Lajna further states:
"Sister Aaliyah would tell us that during her time, since 98% of Lajna members had recently done the Bai'at and joined the Jamaat, therefore in the beginning, they would only enjoin them to offer the five daily prayers and keep fasts in the month of Ramadan. Thus, instead of making them wear the Hijab from the outset, for the first few years, she said she would start by bringing their attention to wearing appropriate clothing, telling them to first wear modest clothing. Then the next step would be to wear the Hijab." This is unlike a trend that has started here nowadays that those even wearing the Hijab have started taking it off. She, on the other hand, would morally train them by gradually taking them from one step to the next.
"Then, Sister Aaliyah put great effort in teaching the recitation of the Quran by preparing daily teaching programmes. Likewise, those Lajna members who would finish learning the recitation of the Holy Quran, she would advise them to read a portion of the exegesis on a daily basis. It was through Aaliyah Sahiba's efforts that the educational syllabus for the Nasirat was made. As a result, a desire to further learn religious knowledge was borne in the Nasirat. The deceased played a huge role in instilling in the members of Lajna and Nasirat with the spirit of sacrifice. She would similarly keep all accounts of the financial contributions in a very professional manner.
"When once, she was asked regarding the difficulties she faced after joining the Jamaat; she replied that 'upon joining the Jamaat, I faced great difficulties. But instead of demonstrating weakness, I have always strived to show perseverance and remain content with the will of God Almighty. This is in fact the very lesson I have been teaching Lajna members for over fifty years.'"
She further writes, "Her character was like a minaret of resolve in which we all found guidance."
She then writes:
"Her belief in the final victory of Islam was of absolute certainty. She would say that when the victory of Islam shall occur, the famous motto and slogan of the Jamaat, 'Love for All, Hatred for None' would reign supreme in the world. Likewise, she had complete faith in the institution of Khilafat and considered it as the key to the victory of Islam. She would always say that the institution of Khilafat shall remain firmly established and with it shall come the victory of Islam, God-willing."
"It was this message that she – through hundreds of letters and phone calls – would give and explain to Lajna and Nasiratmembers with great effort.
"On 23 March 2008 she spoke to the members of Lajna saying, 'All the followers of the Promised Messiah(as) around the world gathered in the mosques and mission houses on 1 January to offer the Tahajjud prayers as an act of gratitude. Indeed, this was to be the case, because this year, it marks one hundred years since the Khilafat of our beloved Promised Messiah(as) was established.' She further said, 'O my Allah! Remove all hurdles in the progress of Ahmadiyyat and grant us that victory which You have promised us. Our Promised Messiah(as) has laid the foundations for this Jamaat and united us all as one body. It is due to him that we Ahmadis feel the pain of one another, help each other in times of difficulty, pray for one another, partake of the happiness of another and are aggrieved by the suffering of another. By the grace and mercy of God Almighty we are one.'
"She then wrote in her message to the new converts in Lajna Imaillah and addressed all the Lajna members present at the time, 'It is God Almighty's special favour and I am extremely fortunate to have witnessed the progress of the Jamaat with my own eyes. God Almighty has graced us by choosing our Jamaat for the propagation and service of Islam. Every week we have the opportunity to listen to the Khalifa of the time and by acting upon his guidance, we can attain progress in our spiritual and secular lives.' In the end, she said, 'I pray, O my Master! Remove all hurdles in the victory of Islam. Enable us to truly reflect our faith and grant us countless helpers.'"
Thus, in view of the circumstances there in America, she played a special role in keeping the African-American new converts together.
Her son, Umar Shaheed Sahib, President of the Pittsburgh Jamaat, writes:
"Due to Ahmadiyyat and Khilafat my parents became soldiers in the defence of Islam. My mother would regularly write to you", he wrote this to me, "and would also encourage me to write to the Khalifa." He further writes, "Pray that my children and I are able to follow in her footsteps." Umar Sahib then writes, "I had no idea how much love and admiration the members of the Jamaat had for until I received countless letters expressing their sentiments about her."
Another local American Ahmadi, sister Aaliyah Aziz Lord, writes, "Having accepted Ahmadiyyat, she (i.e. the late Aaliyah Shaheed Sahiba) lived an exemplary life as an Ahmadi. When she was serving as the talim (education) secretary, because of her, no one wanted to fail the exams that she had prepared, and thus we would all get together and prepare for the test." She then writes, "She was much older than me, but that would not stop her in treating me as a friend. There is one thing I noticed; whenever an academic question was posed to her, rather than giving her own opinion and mentioning additional things, she would always present the Islamic teaching. She had a strong bond with God Almighty which was something that continued to draw others towards her."
Sister Jameela Hamid, wife of Hamid Munir Sahib, who is also a local American Ahmadi, writes, "She would show me great affection and would often express her love for me. When my mother passed away, she wrote me a letter full of words of love, which helped me understand the philosophy of death. She was like an angel. Whenever one needed help and advice she would be just a single phone call away. She would always tell me that the purpose of life should be to serve the Jamaat and to love the Khalifa of the time as he is the Hablullah [the rope of Allah] of this era. I would always envy her love for God Almighty. Once, I asked her if she was afraid of death. She replied, 'We all have to return to our Beloved God, so what is there to be afraid of?' She had a deep understanding of the message of the Promised Messiah(as) which she would impart to others throughout her life."
Another Ahmadi, Dr Rashida Ahmad, who is also from America, states:
"She herself would strictly adhere to the teachings of Islam but would advise others in a very loving manner. The love of God Almighty was reflected from her every action and deed."
She further states:
"I had the opportunity to stay at her house on several occasions and we would offer the prayers together and also recite the Holy Quran. After that, with great love and desire, she would show me the letters she had received from the Khulafa [Khalifas] of the Jamaat. One can evidently gauge her great love for Khilafat from her poetry and speeches." (She would write poems as well)
"She demonstrated great patience. I would call her every month and enquire about her health and she never once voiced her complain about her deteriorating health, in fact she would always recall the blessings of God Almighty and express her gratitude."
Another Ahmadi who is also from America, Sister Aziza, who is the wife of Al-Haj Rashid, states:
"Sister Aaliyah Shaheed Sahiba was an embodiment of the motto, 'Love for All, Hatred for None.' Even though she lived in another city, however she was a close friend of my mother. After the demise of my mother, she did not end this relationship and I would always feel as if Aaliyah Sahiba knew whenever I would become lax, she would immediately send me a letter full of inspiration."
Another Lajna member, Khulat Sahiba, writes:
"I became acquainted with Aaliyah Sahiba when I first came to the USA in 1949. I was eight years old at the time when I first met her. She was extremely loving and friendly and had a personality that would leave a positive impression on others. She had an extremely long-held and strong bond with Khilafat. She would mention her correspondence in letters with Hazrat Musleh-e-Maud(ra). Her services for Lajna Imaillah USA will always be remembered. She had an astounding spiritual persona and despite being a hundred years old, she would attend the Jalsas [annual conventions] which serves as a model for us."
May God Almighty elevate her status. And may God Almighty instil the spirit and passion that she had to serve the Jamaat – which her son also mentioned – in her progeny as well.
(Translated by The Review of Religions)
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text:
Now is the time for Jamaica to join CCJ
WHEN THE JUDGMENT in the case Myrie vs Barbados was handed down in October 2013, it was considered a transformational point for the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). The decision proved to many sceptics, especially in Jamaica, that the court was one which was independent, and of high integrity and strong legal scholarship.
Not only had justice been served, but the CCJ had gone about dealing with this case unlike any the Privy Council in Britain had ever treated to in this region. The decision was hailed in every territory across the region by legislators, the legal profession and, most important, the average citizen, who connected with and understood the ruling. The feeling was that the court had proved itself and the detractors would now get on board.
Concerning regional states which have stayed away from the CCJ – Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica – it was felt that some of the suggestions against joining would have been deemed irrelevant post-Myrie. But the pathway to having the CCJ as the region's final court of justice still seems uncertain, at least in Jamaica.
The region should this week have a clear picture of where Jamaica stands with the region's top court. From today, the House of Representatives in Kingston should start debate on legislation which could pave the way for that country to join the CCJ in all its jurisdictions.
Already, it seems as if the vote will be purely along party lines as the leader of the opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), Andrew Holness, has virtually said no to his party's support. His comments seem well in keeping with the strong anti-Caribbean position the JLP has long promoted.
This is a most unfortunate situation for a country which boasts of more than 50 years of political independence, whose products and people can be found all across the Caribbean, and which can find tangible evidence all across Jamaica of the substantial contribution of people from the "small islands in the south".
It is important that Holness and his JLP approach today's debate open-mindedly and pragmatically on this matter, about which logic and common sense suggest that the CCJ should be his country's final court in all its jurisdictions. The British Privy Council, which the JLP favours, is far removed, too expensive and does not connect with the Caribbean.
Neither must the people of Jamaica be misled into believing that a national referendum is necessary to determine whether that country should sign on fully to the CCJ. Our hope is that the Portia Simpson Miller administration be well prepared to present its argument on why the switch is necessary.
It is time for Holness and his team to end the roadblock to Jamaica's accession to the CCJ and let this be a defining moment for his country. Now is not the time to be left standing in London like lost souls.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


If you experience this problem, try connecting the USB-C to USB Adapter and USB device through a USB hub. If there is insufficient power, please use a self-powered USB hub.
Also, the computer may recognize the device if you connect it to a different Thunderbolt port or reverse the sides of the Thunderbolt connector.
We are currently investigating this problem and thank you for your continued patience.
Hello, I had this issue (in the MacBook Pro touchbar 15 / taktile 25) but I was able to solve it with a USB hub.
Do you know if some kind of damage could have done for this fail attempt to connect to the usb-C before the hub?
Hi support staff. Any news on this? I first reported this on January 10 2017 and still you have not issued a fix. I have not been able to use my brand new Microkey2 yet due to this error.
You have offered a workaround that involves me spending more money to make something work that was meant to be compatible and that—combined with zero support over 5 months—is completely unacceptable.
This was my first experience with Korg and it's likely to be the last. I cannot recommend your products and will warn others of the risks they are likely to incur.
I just purchased a Korg Microkey MiniAir with bluetooth.
I have an Ipad and an Imac.
I have the Korg app for both.
I am able to connect with Bluetooth. Bluetooth registers on both devices.
But I am not able to get the keyboard to work. In spite of the device being connected, there is no sound.
Look forward to your help on this.
I've just bought a microkey2, and I'm faced with the same issue with my macbook pro 2017. I haven't tried yet the "usb hub" workaround, but it seems to be the only option, except from returning the keyboard... Any news on the investigation ?
Any luck with this? New Macbook Pro has problems with other devices associated to USB in general. As others state, this is completely unacceptable. Some blame it on Intel, some on Apple, some on third party companies. We don't care who's guilty, we need things to work, because we're paying for it!
I had this problem out of the box but was able to make it work with my non hub USB adapter, but ONLY upside down and in the top right port on my Macbook pro 2017. Will be spending $6 on another cable to be able to utilize all the other ports, but this works for now.
For real, upside down? That doesn't make any sense! I thought USB-C got rid of the upside down business? Does it work flawlessly like that? And is yours a 15" MBP? The reason I ask is the non 15" have slower ports depending on which one you use.


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Whoa! This can be by far the most helpful thing on the subject I have ever read. Many thanks for your work.


text:
Posted on 6th July 2020 6th July 2020 Authorbaitken
This was week 15 of Lockdown, which I guess is sort of coming to an end now, although I will still be working from home for the foreseeable future and having to juggle work and childcare every day. I continued to work on the Books and Borrowing project for much of this week, this time focussing on importing some of the existing datasets from previous transcription projects. I had previously written scripts to import data from Glasgow University library and Innerpeffray library, which gave us 14,738 borrowing records. This week I began by focussing on the data from St Andrews University library.
The St Andrews data is pretty messy, reflecting the layout and language of the original documents, so I haven't been able to fully extract everything and it will require a lot of manual correcting. However, I did manage to migrate all of the data to a test version of the database running on my local PC and then updated the online database to incorporate this data.
The data I've got are CSV and HTML representations of transcribed pages that come from an existing website with pages that look like this: https://arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/transcribe/index.php?title=Page:UYLY205_2_Receipt_Book_1748-1753.djvu/100. The links in the pages (e.g. Locks Works) lead through to further pages with information about books or borrowers. Unfortunately the CSV version of the data doesn't include the links or the linked to data, and as I wanted to try and pull in the data found on the linked pages I therefore needed to process the HTML instead.
I wrote a script that pulled in all of the files in the 'HTML' directory and processed each in turn. From the filenames my script could ascertain the ledger volume, its dates and the page number. For example 'Page_UYLY205_2_Receipt_Book_1748-1753.djvu_10.html' is ledger 2 (1748-1753) page 10. The script creates ledgers and pages, and adds in the 'next' and 'previous' page links to join all the pages in a ledger together.
The actual data in the file posed further problems. As you can see from the linked page above, dates are just too messy to automatically extract into our strongly structured borrowed and returned date system. Often a record is split over multiple rows as well (e.g. the borrowing record for 'Rollins belles Lettres' is actually split over 3 rows). I could have just grabbed each row and inserted it as a separate borrowing record, which would then need to be manually merged, but I figured out a way to do this automatically. The first row of a record always appears to have a code (the shelf number) in the second column (e.g. J.5.2 for 'Rollins') whereas subsequent rows that appear to belong to the same record don't (e.g. 'on profr Shaws order by' and 'James Key'). I therefore set up my script to insert new borrowing records for rows that have codes, and to append any subsequent rows that don't have codes to this record until a row with a code is reached again.
I also used this approach to set up books and borrowers too. If you look at the page linked to above again you'll see that the links through to things are not categorised – some are links to books and others to borrowers, with no obvious way to know which is which. However, it's pretty much always the case that it's a book that appears in the row with the code and it's people that are linked to in the other rows. I could therefore create or link to existing book holding records for links in the row with a code and create or link to existing borrower records for links in rows without a code. There are bound to be situations where this system doesn't quite work correctly, but I think the majority of rows do fit this pattern.
The next thing I needed to do was to figure out which data from the St Andrews files should be stored as what in our system. I created four new 'Additional Fields' for St Andrews as follows:
Original Borrowed date: This contains the full text of the first column (e.g. Decr 16)
Code: This contains the full text of the second column (e.g. J.5.2)
Original Returned date: This contains the full text of the fourth column (e.g. Jan. 5)
Original returned text: This contains the full date of the fifth column (e.g. 'Rollins belles Lettres V. 2d')
In the borrowing table the 'transcription' field is set to contain the full text of the 'borrowed' column, but without links. Where subsequent rows contain data in this column but no code, this data is then appended to the transcription. E.g. the complete transcription for the third item on the page linked to above is 'Rollins belles Lettres Vol 2d on profr Shaws order by James Key'.
The contents of all pages linked to in the transcriptions are added to the 'editors notes' field for future use if required. Both the page URL and the page content are included, separated by a bar (|) and if there are multiple links these are separated by five dashes. E.g. for the above the notes field contains:
'Rollins_belles_Lettres|
Possibly: De la maniere d'enseigner et d'etuder les belles-lettres, Par raport à l'esprit & au coeur, by Charles Rollin. (A Amsterdam : Chez Pierre Mortier, M. DCC. XLV. [1745]) http://library.st-andrews.ac.uk/record=b2447402~S1

—– profr_Shaws|
https://arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/biographical-register/data/documents/1409683484

—– James_Key|
Possibly James Kay: https://arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/biographical-register/data/documents/1389455860

As mentioned earlier, the script also generates book and borrower records based on the linked pages too. I've chosen to set up book holding rather than book edition records as the details are all very vague and specific to St Andrews. In the holdings table I've set the 'standardised title' to be the page link with underscores replaced with dashes (e.g. 'Rollins belles Lettres') and the page content is stored in the 'editors notes' field. One book item is created for each holding to be used to link to the corresponding borrowing records.
For borrowers a similar process is followed, with the link added to the surname column (e.g. Thos Duncan) and the page content added to the 'editors notes' field (e.g.
Possibly Thomas Duncan: https://arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/biographical-register/data/documents/1377913372
'). All borrowers are linked to records as 'Main' borrowers.
During the processing I noticed that the fourth ledger had a slightly different structure to the others, with entire pages devoted to a particular borrower, whose name then appeared in a heading row in the table. I therefore updated my script to check for the existence of this heading row, and if it exists my script then grabs the borrower name, creates the borrower record if it doesn't already exist and then links this borrower to every borrowing item found on the page. After my script had finished running we had 11147 borrowing records, 996 borrowers and 6395 book holding records for St Andrew in the system.
I then moved onto looking at the data for Selkirk library. This data was more nicely structured than the St Andrews data, with separate spreadsheets for borrowings, borrowers and books and borrowers and books connected to borrowings via unique identifiers. Unfortunately the dates were still transcribed as they were written rather than being normalised in any way, which meant it was not possible to straightforwardly generate structured dates for the records and these will need to be manually generated. The script I wrote to import the data took about a day to write, and after running it we had a further 11,431 borrowing records across two registers and 415 pages entered into our database.
As with St Andrews, I created book records as Holding records only (i.e. associated specifically with the library rather than being project-wide 'Edition' records. There are 612 Holding records for Selkirk. I also processed the borrower records, resulting in 86 borrower records being added. I added the dates as originally transcribed to an additional field named 'Original Borrowed Date' and the only other additional field is in the Holding records for 'Subject', that will eventually be merged with our 'Genre' when this feature becomes available.
Also this week I advised Katie on a file naming convention for the digitised images of pages that will be created for the project. I recommended that the filenames shouldn't have spaces in them as these can be troublesome on some operating systems and that we'd want a character to use as a delimiter between the parts of the filename that wouldn't appear elsewhere in the filename so it's easy to split up the filename. I suggested that the page number should be included in the filename and that it should reflect the page number as it will be written into the database – e.g. if we're going to use 'r' and 'v' these would be included. Each page in the database will be automatically assigned an auto-incrementing ID, and the only means of linking a specific page record in the database with a specific image will be via the page number entered when the page is created, so if this is something like '23r' then ideally this should be represented in the image filename.
Katie had wondered about using characters to denote ledgers and pages in the filename (e.g. 'L' and 'P') but if we're using a specific delimiting character to separate parts of the filename then using these characters wouldn't be necessary and I suggested it would be better to not use 'L' as a lower case 'l' is very easy to confuse with a '1' or a capital 'I' which might confuse future human users.
Instead I suggested using a '-' instead of spaces and a '_' as a delimiter and pointed out that we should ensure that no other non-alphanumeric characters are ever used in the filename – no apostrophes, commas, colons, semi-colons, ampersands etc and to make sure the '-' is really a minus sign and not one of the fancy dashes (–) that get created by MS Office. This shouldn't be an issue when entering a filename, but might be if a list of filenames is created in Word and then pasted into the 'save as' box, for example.
Finally, I suggested that it might be best to make the filenames entirely lower case, as some operating systems are case sensitive and if we don't specify all lower case then there may be variation in the use of case. Following these guidelines the filenames would look something like this:
dumfries-presbytery_2_3v.jpg
standrews-ul_9_300r.jpg
In addition to the Books and Borrowing project I worked on a number of other projects this week. I gave Matthew Creasy some further advice on using forums in his new project website, and 'Scottish Cosmopolitanism at the Fin de Siècle' website is now available here: https://scoco.glasgow.ac.uk/.
I also worked a bit more on using dates from the OED data in the Historical Thesaurus. Fraser had sent me a ZIP file containing the entire OED dataset as 240 XML files and I began analysing these to figure out how we'd extract these dates so that we could use them to update the dates associated with the lexemes in the HT. I needed to extract the quotation dates as these have 'ante' and 'circa' notes, plus labels. I noted that in addition to 'a' and 'c' a question mark is also used, somethings with an 'a' or 'c' and sometimes without. I decided to process things as follows:
?a will just be 'a'
?c will just be 'c'
? without an 'a' or 'c' will be 'c'.
I also noticed that a date may sometimes be a range (e.g. 1795-8) so I needed to include a second date column in my data structure to accommodate this. I also noted that there are sometimes multiple Old English dates, and the contents of the 'date' tag vary depending on the date – sometimes the content is 'OE' and othertimes 'lOE' or 'eOE'. I decided to process any OE dates for a lexeme as being 650 and to have only one OE date stored, so as to align with how OE dates are stored in the HT database (we don't differentiate between date for OE words).
While running my date extraction script over one of the XML files I also noticed that there were lexemes in the OED data that were not present in the OED data we had previously extracted. This presumably means the dataset Fraser sent me is more up to date than the dataset I used to populate our online OED data table. This will no doubt mean we'll need to update our online OED table, but as we link to the HT lexeme table using the OED catid, refentry, refid and lemmaid fields if we were to replace the online OED lexeme table with the data in these XML files the connections from OED to HT lexemes would be retained without issue (hopefully), but any matching processes we performed would need to be done again for the new lexemes.
I set my extraction script running on the OED XML files on Wednesday and processing took a long time. The script didn't complete until sometime during Friday night, but after it had finished it had processed 238,699 categories, 754,285 lexemes, generating 3,893,341 date rows. It also found 4,062 new words in the OED data that it couldn't process because they don't exist in our OED lexeme database.
I also spent a bit more time working on some scripts for Fraser's Scots Thesaurus project. The scripts now ignore 'additional' entries and only include 'n.' entries that match an HT 'n' category. Variant spellings are also removed (these were all tagged with <form> and I removed all of these). I also created a new field to store only the 'NN_' tagged words and remove all others.
The scripts generated three datasets, which I saved as spreadsheets for Fraser. The first (postagged-monosemous-dost-no-adds-n-only) contains all of the content that matches the above criteria. The second (postagged-monosemous-dost-no-adds-n-only-catheading-match) lists those lexemes where a postagged word fully matches the HT category heading. The final (postagged-monosemous-dost-no-adds-n-only-catcontents-match) lists those lexemes where a postagged word fully matches a lexeme in the HT category. For this table I've also added in the full list of lexemes for each HT category too.
I also spent a bit of time working on the Data Management Plan for the new project for Jane Stuart-Smith and Eleanor Lawson at QMU and arranged for a PhD student to get access to the TextGrid files that were generated for the audio records for the SCOTS Corpus project.
Finally, I investigated the issue the DSL people are having with duplicate child entries appearing in their data. This was due to something not working quite right in a script Thomas Widmann had written to extract the data from the DSL's editing system before he left last year, and Ann had sent me some examples of where the issue was cropping up.
I have the data that was extracted from Thomas's script last July as two XML files (dost.xml and snd.xml) and I looked through these for the examples Ann had sent. The entry for snd13897 contains the following URLs:
<url>snd13897</url>
<url>snds3788</url>
<url>sndns2217</url>
The first is the ID for the main entry and the other two are child entries. If I search for the second one (snds3788) this is the only occurrence of the ID in the file, as the child entry has been successfully merged. But if I search for the third one (sndns2217) I find a separate entry with this ID (with more limited content). The pulling in of data into a webpage in the V3 site uses URLs stored in a table linked to entry IDs. These were generated from the URLs in the entries in the XML file (see the <url> tags above). For the URL 'sndns2217' the query finds multiple IDs, one for the entry snd13897 and another for the entry sdnns2217. But it finds snd13897 first, so it's the content of this entry that is pulled into the page.
The entry for dost16606 contains the following URLs:
<url>dost16606</url>
(in addition to headword URLs). Searching for the second one discovers a separate entry with the ID dost50272 (with more limited content). As with SND, searching the URL table for this URL finds two IDs, and as dost16606 appears first this is the entry that gets displayed.
What we need to do is remove the child entries that still exist as separate entries in the data. To do this I could is write a script that would go through each entry in the dost.xml and snd.xml files. It would then pick out every <url> that is not the same as the entry ID and search the file to see if any entry exists with this ID. If it does then presumably this is a duplicate that should then be deleted. I'm waiting to hear back from the DSL people to see how we should proceed with this.
As you can no doubt gather from the above, this was a very busy week but I do at least feel that I'm getting on top of things again.
CategoriesBids, Books and Borrowing, Brian Aitken, Dictionaries of the Scots Language, Historical Thesaurus of English, Historical Thesaurus of Scots, Misc, SCOTS, Staff Advice, Student Advice
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Teaching is an extremely rewarding and worthwhile career that places you in a position whereby you can inspire and educate the next generation of thinkers. By interacting and setting an example for their students every day, teachers have the opportunity to change children's lives. As such, teaching is one of the most important careers than anyone can undertake. Because of this, in order to become an outstanding teacher, you have to have a special set of skills that really ensures you stand out.
First and foremost, you must value and love what you do. A teacher who is upbeat and enthusiastic about their subject will naturally inspire their students to feel optimistic too. Furthermore, they are far more likely to enjoy the subject themselves. As a teacher, when you are passionate about your subject and the learning of your pupils, this spills over into your lessons and dramatically increases your ability to communicate with the students.
To convey this passion in the classroom you must stay up to date with the latest developments in your field, constantly seek out new information and aspire to find different ways to bring your subject alive. Every academic discipline is constantly updating with new findings and approaches. By being aware of the latest advancements and thinking, you can inform and update your lessons to keep them fresh and interesting.
A teacher is more than an instructor, they are a leader; someone who can guide a classroom full of competing and different personalities towards the same goal. Leadership is different from simply delegating and giving instructions; it requires you to become a role model for a group. To be an effective leader you need to show and explain the way forward, lead by example as opposed to purely by commands, and help to steer the group when they may go off track. All these qualities are vital in the world of teaching. It is the lessons that truly resonate with children that have the biggest positive impact on their lives as well as their academic studies.
When you think of teaching, you may naturally think of standing in front of a classroom leading a lesson. But there is a lot more to teaching than simply classroom management. Like any career, there is a lot of behind the scenes organisation which helps to ensure that everything runs smoothly. Lesson planning and marking are just some of the administration components that make up some of your time as a teacher. Excellent organisational skills will help you stay on top of your assignments, be able to prioritise when you have a tight deadline looming, and adapt when other issues or complications arise.
Communication goes beyond face-to-face interaction with pupils. Whether it is with fellow teachers, with parents or with the children themselves, having exceptional communication skills is a must in the teaching profession. On any given day, a teacher interacts with people across a range of ages, abilities, backgrounds and personalities, so it is important that you can effectively address with all stakeholders on a day-to-day basis. Being able to communicate is also a fundamental component of succinctly conveying information to a class. If you cannot explain a concept coherently to a class, then it is unlikely that your students will fully understand the information that you are trying to express. As educators, communicating is at the heart of our profession, so being able to express ideas and concepts intelligibly is an essential skill for any teacher.
Strong interpersonal skills go hand-in-hand with being an effective communicator. It is those teachers with the strongest people skills who are able to communicate and resonate with pupils the most. Similarly, strong emotional intelligence and empathy can be applied to teaching to nurture relationships between co-workers and students. This aids in motivating and encouraging children as you are able to communicate with them in a more personal way, aligning their education with their deeper feelings. As sources of support for their pupils, teachers are invaluable in providing guidance and advice from an impartial perspective. Therefore, being skilled in gauging and responding to the emotions of others is a central quality in an outstanding teacher, enabling you to be a pillar of support and guidance for all pupils.
Adaptability is another crucial skill within the teaching profession. Being able to adapt to unforeseen circumstances or impromptu adjustments allows you to remain professional and able to react to situations quickly and appropriately. Whether it is a student who has injured themselves, having to revise lesson plans on the spot or unexpected absences of staff due to illness, you have to be able to adapt quickly and effectively. The teachers who stand out are those who are ready to adapt and act accordingly, whatever the situation.
Being resilient means you are able to deal with conflict head-on and bounce back from knockbacks. Like any profession, there will be days that are difficult – students misbehaving or disagreeing, classes who are unwilling to work despite your best efforts to inspire them. Regardless of what the day throws at you, as a teacher you must be able to carry on throughout any challenges. By staying committed to your vocation and your pupils, you will build up the resilience and patience to become a great teacher.
As a teacher, being confident is a vital tool when entering a classroom. Students will automatically look to you for guidance and instruction, so being able to convey yourself with confidence goes a long way towards your appearance as an authoritative figure. Children are inquisitive and they can test boundaries, so they are bound to ask questions you are unprepared for and will occasionally challenge you. Of course, this does not mean you cannot be scared of speaking or standing in front of a classroom, but having the confidence in yourself and your authority as a teacher is crucial. By instilling a level of self-assurance into how you teach and come across to students, you will be able to manage classrooms and answer questions with more direction and conviction as well as setting an example of self-confidence to your pupils.
A brilliant teacher is one who can keep pupils engaged and interested by constantly making lessons fun and imaginative. Whether it is taking the classroom outside, using the latest technology in new and innovative ways or merging two subjects together, there are plenty of imaginative and exciting ways to make lessons enjoyable. This also helps teachers to stay passionate about their subjects by finding new ways to teach the same concepts as well as refining the best ways to communicate difficult ideas. Just remember you are an adult teacher: don't regress back to your childhood too much.


text:
package cucumber.runtime.java.needle.config;

import static cucumber.runtime.java.needle.config.CucumberNeedleConfiguration.RESOURCE_CUCUMBER_NEEDLE;
import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
import static org.hamcrest.core.IsCollectionContaining.hasItems;
import static org.junit.Assert.assertNotNull;
import static org.junit.Assert.assertThat;

import java.util.ResourceBundle;
import java.util.Set;

import org.junit.Test;

import cucumber.runtime.java.needle.test.injectionprovider.SimpleNameGetterProvider;

public class ReadInjectionProviderClassNamesTest {

    private final ReadInjectionProviderClassNames function = ReadInjectionProviderClassNames.INSTANCE;

    @Test
    public void shouldReturnProviderFromCucumberNeedleProperties() throws Exception {
        final Set<String> classNames = function.apply(loadBundle(RESOURCE_CUCUMBER_NEEDLE));
        assertNotNull(classNames);
        assertThat(classNames.size(), is(1));
        assertThat(classNames.iterator().next(), is(SimpleNameGetterProvider.class.getCanonicalName()));
    }

    @Test
    public void shouldReturnEmptySetWhenResourceBundleIsNull() {
        final Set<String> classNames = function.apply(null);
        assertNotNull(classNames);
        assertThat(classNames.isEmpty(), is(true));
    }

    @Test
    public void shouldReturnEmptySetWhenPropertyIsNotSet() {
        final Set<String> classNames = function.apply(loadBundle("resource-bundles/empty"));
        assertNotNull(classNames);
        assertThat(classNames.isEmpty(), is(true));
    }

    @Test
    public void shouldReturnEmptySetWhenPropertyIsEmpty() {
        final Set<String> classNames = function.apply(loadBundle("resource-bundles/no-classname"));
        assertNotNull(classNames);
        assertThat(classNames.isEmpty(), is(true));
    }

    @Test
    public void shouldReturnOneTrimmedClassName() throws Exception {
        final Set<String> classNames = function.apply(loadBundle("resource-bundles/one-classname"));
        assertThat(classNames.size(), is(1));
        final String first = classNames.iterator().next();
        assertThat(first, is("java.lang.String"));
    }

    @Test
    public void shouldReturnTwoTrimmedClassNames() throws Exception {
        final Set<String> classNames = function.apply(loadBundle("resource-bundles/two-classname"));
        assertThat(classNames.size(), is(2));
        assertThat(classNames, hasItems("java.lang.String", "java.util.Set"));
    }

    private ResourceBundle loadBundle(final String resourceName) {
        return LoadResourceBundle.INSTANCE.apply(resourceName);
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Things We Didn't See Coming (Hardcover)
By Steven Amsterdam
Pantheon, 9780307378507, 208pp.
Michael Williams, in Melbourne's The Age, wrote of this award-winning, dazzling debut collection, "By turns horrific and beautiful . . . Humanity at its most fractured and desolate . . . Often moving, frequently surprising, even blackly funny . . . Things We Didn't See Coming is terrific." This is just one of the many rave reviews that appeared on the Australian publication of these nine connected stories set in a not-too-distant dystopian future in a landscape at once utterly fantastic and disturbingly familiar.
Richly imagined, dark, and darkly comic, the stories follow the narrator over three decades as he tries to survive in a world that is becoming increasingly savage as cataclysmic events unfold one after another. In the first story, "What We Know Now"—set in the eve of the millennium, when the world as we know it is still recognizable—we meet the then-nine-year-old narrator fleeing the city with his parents, just ahead of a Y2K breakdown. The remaining stories capture the strange—sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes funny—circumstances he encounters in the no-longer-simple act of survival; trying to protect squatters against floods in a place where the rain never stops, being harassed (and possibly infected) by a man sick with a virulent flu, enduring a job interview with an unstable assessor who has access to all his thoughts, taking the gravely ill on adventure tours. But we see in each story that, despite the violence and brutality of his days, the narrator retains a hold on his essential humanity—and humor.
Things We Didn't See Coming is haunting, restrained, and beautifully crafted—a stunning debut.
Steven Amsterdam, is a native New Yorker who moved to Melbourne, Australia, in 2003. He currently works as a psychiatric nurse. You can visit him on the web at www.stevenamsterdam.com
Praise For Things We Didn't See Coming…
Guardian First Book Award Longlist
Winner, The Age Book of the Year Award
"Breathtakingly strange . . . Things We Didn't See Coming is the kind of book that can inspire us to think differently about the world and entertain us at the same time. In its occasional darkness, we can also see light."
"Amsterdam has shaped a novel that becomes a fast-moving, nightmarish extravaganza. It is fantastic and gripping and utterly original—now you see it, now you don't, or perhaps you missed it all? It doesn't matter; read it again . . . Rarely has the darkness of life been looked at with such buoyant irony, imaginative grace and disarming candour."
"There is a satisfying tingle in imagining an Armageddon just round the corner. But Amsterdam also gives his book an emotional heart; it lies in the contrast between the narrator's very ordinary emotions—jealousy, fear, the desire to belong—and his extraordinary circumstances . . . A memorable debut."
"Even in the blackest scenes Amsterdam's gift for mordant humour keeps the reader entertained and depression at bay, just about . . . What makes Things We Didn't See Coming such an impressive novel—and very impressive debut—is the playfulness of the writing contrasted to the grimness of the subject matter. In Amsterdam's hands the apocalypse sounds like it might be fun."
—The Sunday Times (London)
"Disturbing and deeply smart . . . darkly comic and full of surprises . . ."
—TimeOut New York
"Funny, scary, and described with a flair for the telling detail . . . The strength of Amsterdam's book, as of [Margaret] Atwood's recent work, lies in its eschewing of pie-in-the-sky theorizing that so often mars science fiction. This is not a nerdy fantasy of some undiscovered galaxy. Steven Amsterdam reads the newspapers."
"As well-crafted as McCarthy's novel is, Steven Amsterdam's brilliant novelistic collection of stories, Things We Didn't See Coming, is an even better post-apocalyptic book than McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel . . . The voice in these interconnected stories is thoughtful, intelligent, savvy but not hard-boiled . . . Amsterdam has written a literary novel, in the form of a collection of stories about a post-apocalyptic future, that deals with how, and why, people survive the most extreme traumas. It is full of horror and hope and compels you to think . . . "
—News & Observer
"My only problem with the collection—and this is big praise for a debut—is that the author fills his characters, particularly the randomly occurring ones, with enough life and panache to merit a full-blown novel that gives them greater voice . . ."
"In his award-winning debut volume of connected short stories, Amsterdam takes his lead from the apocalyptic speculations that grew more ominous by the minute as 1999 drew to a close . . . The author enters the literary world with a full-blown talent that can't be stopped."
"Eye-opening . . . The emphasis here is on holding fast to love and faith in even the direst circumstances."
"Stunning"
—Australian Literary Review
"Challenging and impressive"
"Preternaturally assured, finely crafted and thoroughly accomplished, it deserves to be read widely."
—The Age (Melbourne)
"[A] clever blend of humour and razor-edged sadness"
—Courier-Mail (Brisbane)
"Restrained beauty"
"The perfect combination of uncanny landscapes, existential anxiety and social critique"
—Australian Book Review
"Something very strange happens upon finishing Steven Amsterdam's (remarkably assured and kind of masterful) stories: what should be a bum trip through a variety of dystopias—foodless worlds; heartless periods of ceaseless rain and savagery; breakouts of peace and plenty marked by venality and ambition; biblical pestilence and illness—ends up anything but; one puts down the book feeling something close to hope. Perhaps it's the life-is-long, cyclical wisdom of it all, maybe it's a newfound appreciation for the Here And Now, although I'm inclined to think it's just gratitude that there are such writers around."
—David Rakoff, author of Fraud and Don't Get Comfortable
"A fresh, modern voice . . . Amsterdam's writing is tight, calculated, and compelling."
—Andrew Hutchinson, author of Rohypnol
"Bold, original, and sneakily affecting."
—Emily Maguire, author of Taming the Beast
"In Things We Didn't See Coming, Steven Amsterdam describes a convulsed world, from its regressive barbarism to the inevitable savagery on the horizon, while suggesting that the human animal can, perhaps, rediscover empathy and humor in the thick of planetary meltdown. In this book we hear a voice as naturally surprising as the jazz of Django Reinhardt or Dexter Gordon. A real writer, in short."
—Gary Indiana, author of The Shanghai Gesture and Utopia's Debris


The discreet embroidery of the leather headboard echoes the flowers of an imaginary garden. This is an imposing bed with a feminine look, characterized by the use of the best leather and an elegant tonsur-ton embroidery. The headboard is made of solid poplar with a light padding. The wings are joined by brass hinges to allow for different positions. The bed is also available is a more compact version without the side wings. Each customer can match the Dreamy Springs, Top Dream and My Dream boxpring according to his preferences. The legs are either beech wood, walnut stained. Canaletto walnut on request.