User:Qaasid/sandbox/Al Hakam

Al Hakam is a weekly newspaper of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat for English readers, available in print, on iOS and Android app and its website www.alhakam.org. Originally launched in 1897, it was relaunched on 23 March 2018 by Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the worldwide head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat.

History
Al Hakam was the first newspaper of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat. It was also the very first organ of the community. Al Hakam was originally launched in 1897 by a companion of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, who Ahmadis believe to be the Promised Messiah and Imam Mahdi. The companion, Hazrat Sheikh Yaqub Ali Irfani, who lived in Amritsar, worked as a qualified and practicing journalist. The community at the time felt the need for spreading the message of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad by using new means, and so, he wrote a letter to Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad seeking permission to start a newspaper in Urdu. Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad wrote back:"I do not have any experience in this field. Our community is in need of a newspaper, however our community consists of poor people and cannot bear financial burdens. If you can start it with your own expertise, then go ahead. May Allah bless it."

Hazrat Sheikh Yaqub Ali Irfani thus began the weekly Urdu Al Hakam newspaper, with the first issue being published on 8 October 1897. Until the end of 1897, it was printed by Riyaz-e-Hind Press in Amritsar and published in Amritsar. Thereafter, it moved to the headquarters of the Ahmadiyya Jamaat, Qadian and, with brief intervals, continued publication until July 1943.

Talking about how Al Hakam began, Hazrat Sheikh Yaqub Ali Irfani said:"In August 1897, Henry Martyn Clark filed a lawsuit against the Promised Messiah. I noted down the happenings of that court case with the title Doosra Jang-e-Muqaddas [the second holy war]. It was then that I felt the need for a newspaper of the community to make necessary announcements and answer political and theological allegations. Thus, in October 1897, Al Hakam was launched."The services rendered by Al Hakam and its editor, Hazrat Sheikh Yaqub Ali Irfani in the early years of the Ahmadiyya community are of great significance. Wherever Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad went or spoke, it would be recorded in Al Hakam. Al Hakam would also contain the latest divine revelations, dreams and visions from God to Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. Many articles of the pioneers of the community would be published, including articles written by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. In 1901, the newspaper Al Badr also took on this responsibility.

In 1934, when Al Hakam relaunched in Urdu, Hazrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad wrote a special message: Al Hakam is the very first newspaper of the community. The service it was able to render, which Al Badr was also able to in the later years of the Promised Messiah's life, cannot be attained by any other newspaper, even if millions of rupees are spent in its pursuit.

Whether Al Hakam survives in its physical form or not, I wish to say that its name shall live forever. No extraordinary task of the community cannot be achieved without mentioning it as it contains the history of this community.

Al Hakam today
Relaunched in 2018, Al Hakam aims to convey fresh news and activities of the worldwide Ahmadiyya Jamaat to people around the world, as well as commenting on contemporary affairs and acquainting the world with the Islamic viewpoint.