Ahmadiyya (religious movement)

• Formation: 1889

• Founder: Mirza Ghulam Ahamd

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is an international Islamic movement focused on reform and revival that was founded in British India in 1889 by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. The movement is not named after its founder, but rather, it is an alternative form of the name of the Prophet Muhammad. Ahmadiyya Muslims emphasize the gentle, peacemaking character of Muhammad as revealed in the Quran and in other traditions. The group has distinguished itself by its explicit renunciation of violence, terrorism, and religious coercion, although it does actively proselytize among Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community adds one very important element to orthodox Sunni Muslim beliefs—namely, that its founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was the fulfillment of the ancient prophecy of a Mahdi, a rightly guided redeemer who would restore Islam to the original purity it possessed in the time of Muhammad and his companions. Through a process of complicated, metaphorical reasoning, Ahmadis also believe that Ahmad fulfills certain eschatological prophecies of other religious traditions. For instance, he is regarded as being the second coming of Jesus, the Jewish messiah, and the final avatara, or incarnation, of the Hindu god Shiva.

Since the death of Ahmad in 1908, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has been led by five different caliphs (successors), and it has spread throughout the world. According to its website in 2024, the group had about 10 million followers in 200 countries. Approximately one-third of the total number of Ahmadis reside in Pakistan. In some predominantly Muslim countries, most notably in Pakistan, the Ahmadiyya are considered to be non-Muslim heretics, and they are subject to persecution. For example, Pakistani Ahmadis were required to declare themselves non-Muslims during certain administrative processes, such as registering to vote. This stops some Ahmadis who refuse to identify themselves as non-Muslim from voting. Due to this persecution, many Pakistani Ahmadis have immigrated to other countries, such as Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom—though many of those who immigrate continue to experience discrimination within their Muslim immigrant communities as well as being subjected to the general Islamophobia that has become prominent in many Western countries in the twenty-first century.

History

Ahmad was born in 1835 in the small city of Qadian, Punjab, which is located in India. He is reported to have been studious to the point of reclusiveness and deeply engaged in the contemplation of the holy books of various religions. In 1886 he and several companions initiated a forty-day spiritual retreat in the nearby city of Hoshiarpur, from which he emerged with claims of divine revelation. The essential content of his revelation, according to the official history of the Ahmadiyya movement, is that Ahmad was both the messiah and the Mahdi ("rightly guided one") who was foretold by the Quran and later Muslim traditions. In addition, he fulfilled prophecies from other religions concerning the arrival of a divine messenger.

Ahmad attracted a small group of followers and enjoyed modest success as an author, teacher, and religious authority until his death in 1908, but his influence never extended much beyond his own local region in India. The great expansion of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community occurred later under the first several caliphs. The first caliph, Hakeem Noor-ud-Din, produced an English translation of the Quran and established an Ahmadiyya mission in England, which has since that time both hosted an active Ahmadi community and served as the site of the official headquarters of the movement. The second, Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad, a son of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, became caliph in 1914 and served in that capacity until his death in 1965. It was under his leadership that the Ahmadiyya community expanded as a popular movement out of India and across Africa and into the West. The fifth caliph, Mirza Masroor Ahmad, came into his position in 2003, and he has consistently been a progressive voice for both human rights and the peaceful resolution of international conflicts. In 2023, Ahmad spoke out against the indiscriminate killing of civilians in the conflict between the Israeli military and the terrorist organization Hamas.

Beliefs and Practices

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and his followers have always thought of themselves as restorers of a pure and uncorrupted Islam, and they follow the basic tenets of orthodox Sunni Muslim belief and practice. Their method of ultimate salvation is to peacefully spread this pure Islamic belief and practice throughout the world. In fact, the message proclaimed by Ahmad was careful to specify that it brought no new law to Muslims, respecting the orthodox Muslim belief that Muhammad was the Seal of the Prophets. However, this Ahmadi assertion that the movement brought no new law with its revelation is not universally accepted in the Muslim world. This disagreement is the basis for accusations of heresy, which are especially loud and insistent in Pakistan. Beginning in 1974, different Pakistani governments have essentially outlawed Ahmadiyya beliefs and countenanced discrimination and persecution of the Ahmadiyya community. On May 28, 2010, an attack on two Ahmadi mosques in Lahore, Pakistan, resulted in the killing of approximately ninety worshipers. This attack punctuated years of lower-level violence against the Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community also diverges from many modern expressions of Muslim piety in two important ways. First, Ahmadis reject the very idea of violent jihad in order to spread the faith—or even to defend it, except in very extreme circumstances. To Ahmadis, jihad is primarily an inner, personal struggle against sin and faithlessness. According to the teachings of Ahmad, the primary threat to Islam in his time was through media and literature, and, therefore, the most appropriate response was through the pen rather than by means of the sword.

Second, Ahmadis also have a more inclusive view of non-Muslim prophecy than does modern orthodox Islam. Not only Moses and Jesus but also Zoroaster, Krishna, Buddha, and Confucius are accepted as authentic prophets. Throughout its history, leaders of Ahmadiyya Islam have often engaged in peaceful interreligious dialogue and debate.

Bibliography

Hanson, John H. The Ahmadiyya in the Gold Coast: Muslim Cosmopolitans in the British Empire. Indiana UP, 2017.

Lawton, Kim. "Ahmadiyya Muslims." PBS. PBS, 20 Jan. 2012. Web. 5 Sept. 2015. <http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2012/01/20/january-20-2012-ahmadiyya-muslims/10124/>. Accessed 25 Oct. 2024.

Morgan, Diane. Essential Islam: A Comprehensive Guide to Belief and Practice. Santa Barbara: Praeger/ABC-CLIO, 2010. Print.

"An Overview." Al Islam.Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, n.d. Web. 5 Sept. 2015. <http://www.alislam.org/>. Accessed 25 Oct. 2024.

Todd, Douglas. "Douglas Todd: Who Are the Ahmadi Muslims? And Why Are They So Controversial?" Vancouver Sun, 28 Mar. 2017, vancouversun.com/news/staff-blogs/who-are-the-ahmadi-muslims-and-why-are-they-so-controversial. Accessed 25 Oct. 2024.

"Treatment of Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan." House of Commons Library, 15 Mar. 2024, commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cdp-2024-0061/. Accessed 25 Oct. 2024.

Valentine, Simon Ross. Islam and the Ahmadiyya Jama’at: History, Belief, Practice. New York: Columbia UP, 2008. Print.

"Who Are the Ahmadi?" BBC News. BBC, 28 May 2010. Web. 5 Sept. 2015. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south‗asia/8711026.stm>. Accessed 25 Oct. 2024.