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The Persecution of Ahmadis is the religious persecution of Ahmadi Muslims as a consequence of professing their faith. They have been subject to various forms of persecution and discrimination since the movement's inception in 1889. The Ahmadiyya stream of Islam emerged from the Sunni tradition of Islam and its adherents believe in all the five pillars and articles of faith required of Muslims.[1]
The Ahmadis are active translators of the Qur'an and proselytizers for the faith; converts to Islam in many parts of the world first discover Islam through the Ahmadis. However, in many Islamic countries the Ahmadis have been defined as heretics and non-Muslim and subjected to persecution and often systematic oppression.[2]
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With 4 million Ahmadis[3] in Pakistan, persecution of Ahmadis has been particularly severe and systematic in Pakistan, which is the only state to have officially declared the Ahmadis to be non-Muslims.[4] Here they are prohibited by law from self-identifying as Muslims, and their freedom of religion has been curtailed by a series of ordinances, acts and constitutional amendments.[5] In applying for a passport, Pakistanis are required to declare that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is an impostor prophet and that his followers are non-Muslims.[6]
As a result, persecution and hate-related incidents are constantly reported from different parts of the country, and Ahmadis have been the target of many attacks led by various religious groups.[7] Madrasahs of all sects of Islam in Pakistan prescribe reading materials for their students specifically targeted at refuting Ahmadiyya beliefs.[8]
As a result of the cultural implications of the laws and constitutional amendments regarding Ahmadis in Pakistan, persecution and hate-related incidents are constantly reported from different parts of the country. Ahmadis have been the target of many attacks led by various religious groups.[9] All religious seminaries and madrasahs in Pakistan, belonging to different sects of Islam, have prescribed essential reading materials specifically targeted at refuting Ahmadiyya beliefs.[10]
In a recent survey in Pakistan, pupils in private schools of Pakistan expressed their opinions on religious tolerance in the country. The figures assembled in the study reflect that even in the educated classes of Pakistan, Ahmadis are considered to be the least deserving minority in terms of equal opportunities and civil rights. In the same study, the teachers in these elite schools showed an even lower amount of tolerance towards Ahmadis than their pupils.[11]
Another example is Abdus Salam, the only Muslim recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics. Because of his allegiance to the Ahmadiyya sect, he has been ignored and excommunicated. There are no monuments or universities named after him. The word "Muslim" has been erased from his grave stone.[12]
In 1953 at the instigation of religious parties, anti-Ahmadiyya riots erupted in Pakistan, killing scores of Ahmadi Muslims and destroying their properties. There were severe agitations against the Ahmadis in which street protests were held, political rallies were carried out, and inflammatory articles were published. These agitations led to 2,000 Ahmadi deaths. Consequently, martial law was established and the Pakistan's Federal Cabinet was dismissed by Governor-General Ghulam Muhammad.[13]
In 1974 a violent campaign, mainly led by the Jamaat-e-Islami, was started against the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Pakistan on the pretext of a clash which took place between Ahmadis and non-Ahmadis at the railway station of Rabwah. This campaign resulted in several Ahmadi casualties and destruction of Ahmadiyya property, including the desecration of mosques and graves.
As a result of pressure from this agitation, legislation and constitutional changes were enacted to criminalise the religious practises of Ahmadis by preventing them from claiming to be Muslim or from "behaving" as Muslims. These changes primarily came about due to the pressure of the Saudi King at the time, King Faisal bin As-Saud, according to Dr Mubashar Hassan, Prime Minister Bhutto's close confidant at the time. Pakistan's parliament adopted a law declaring Ahmadis to be non-Muslims; the country's constitution was amended to define a Muslim “as a person who believes in the finality of the Prophet Muhammad”.[14]
On 26 April 1984, General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, the President of Pakistan, issued the anti-Ahmadiyya Ordinance XX, which effectively prohibited Ahmadis from preaching or professing their beliefs.[15][16] The ordinance, which was supposed to prevent "anti-Islamic activities," forbids Ahmadis to call themselves Muslim or to "pose as Muslims." This means that they are not allowed to profess the Islamic creed publicly or call their places of worship mosques. Ahmadis in Pakistan are also barred by law from worshipping in non-Ahmadi mosques or public prayer rooms, performing the Muslim call to prayer, using the traditional Islamic greeting in public, publicly quoting from the Qur'an, preaching in public, seeking converts, or producing, publishing, and disseminating their religious materials. These acts are punishable by imprisonment of up to three years.[17] Ordinance XX and the 1974 amendment to the constitution effectively gave the state the exclusive right to determine the meaning of the term "Muslim" within Pakistan.
Many Ahmadis were arrested within days of the promulgation of this ordinance, and it gave way for widespread sanctioned as well as non-sanctioned persecution.
The Shab Qadar incident was a public stoning of two members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in the town of Shab Qadar, in the North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan in April 1995.[18] Dr. Rashid Ahmad and his son-in law, Riaz Ahmad Khan, were attacked as they were about to attend a court hearing in Shab Qadar. As they entered the court premises, a violent mob incited by local clerics attacked the men with sticks and stones. Riaz Khan was stoned to death and his dead body stripped and dragged through the town on a rope. Dr. Rashid Ahmad was taken to a hospital in Peshawar with serious injuries. A third Ahmadi, advocate Bashir Ahmad, escaped unhurt.[19] This murder took place in front of the police. Riaz Khan even asked a police officer for help, but instead of helping, the officer pushed him away.[20] According to Amnesty International, the police "stood and watched", and "later pleaded that it could not have intervened in a situation like that". No one was detained or criminally charged for the killing.
The victims — senior members of Ahmadiyya Community from Peshawar — had come from the provincial capital in order to file a bail application on behalf of another Ahmadi Muslim, Daulat Khan. Daulat Khan had been harassed following his conversion to the sect; local Muslim clergy had reportedly called for his death. Daulat Khan had been arrested and imprisoned on 5 April 1995 under sections 107 (abetment) and 151 (disturbing the peace by joining in unlawful assembly) of the Penal Code. After the lynching of Rashid Ahmad and Riaz Ahmad Khan, Daulat Khan remained in custody and was further charged with posing as a Muslim and preaching Ahmadiyyat (section 298 C of the Penal Code) and insulting the religious sentiments of Muslims (section 295 A).[18]
Urdu novelist Mustansar Hussain Tarar made a reference to this event in his novel Raakh ("Ashes").[citation needed]
On 30 October 2000, gunmen opened fire at an Ahmadiyya prayer meeting in the Pakistani province of Punjab, killing at least five worshippers and wounding another seven.[21]
On 7 October 2005, masked gunmen with Kalashnikov rifles stormed a mosque belonging to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in a village called Mong in District Mandi Bahauddin, shooting dead eight people and wounding 14.[22]
Two prominent members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community were murdered on September 8 and September 9, 2008 after a program provoking people to kill Ahmadis was aired on a prominent Pakistani television channel Geo TV a day earlier on September 7.[23][24]
During the year 2009, eleven Ahmadis were killed, while numerous others became victims of attempted killings, according to a report titled "Persecution of Ahmadis in Pakistan during the year 2009" published by Nazarat Umoor-e-Aama Sadr Anjuman Ahmadia Pakistan. The report claimed that the actions of “Ahmadi opponents” had been encouraged largely by the prejudiced attitude of the authorities, and alleged that the federal government had been in denial of the human rights and religious freedom of the Ahmadis, especially the governments of Punjab and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.[25]
Around 10 pm on 1 April 2010, three Ahmadis were returning home in their vehicle from their jewellery and cloth shops situated in Rail Bazaar in Faisalabad. As their car approached the Canal Road near Faisal Hospital, four or five unidentified militants in a white car ambushed them. The three Ahmadis were seriously injured when the men opened fire at them. The attackers managed to flee from the scene. The three men died before they reached the hospital.[26]
On May 28, 2010, two mosques in Lahore belonging to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community were attacked by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan Punjab Wing. The attacks were carried out nearly simultaneously at Mosque Darul Al Zikr, Garhi Shahu and Mosque Bait Al Noor Lahore Model Town, 15 km apart. More than 90 people were killed and 108 were injured in the incident. One attacker was killed; another was captured by worshipers.[27]
On May 31, 2010, an Ahmadi was stabbed to death and his son seriously injured when an activist climbed the wall of their house with a dagger and attacked them. The son later died in hospital from serious wounds. The attacker escaped. Residents say that the assailant threatened to not leave any Ahmadi alive after having found motivation to kill them through a sermon given by a local fanatical sunni cleric.[28]
On 7 September 2011, the mainstream urdu newspaper Daily Jang published a special edition against Ahmadis.[29]
Throughout the year, Ahmadi students and teachers in the Pakistan's Punjab province have been systematically persecuted by schools and universities. The harassment has included social boycott, expulsions, threats and violence by students, teachers and principals of the Muslim majority sect.[30]
On 30th of March an Ahmadi school teacher Master AbdulQudoos was allegedly tortured to death.brutally tortured by the punjab police in Rabwah.
Only twelve years after Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's claim of mahdi-Mahood, two prominent Afghans accused of adhering to him were stoned to death in Afghanistan in 1901. Another Afghan Ahmadi named Nimatullah was found guilty of apostasy in 1903.[31] In the 1920s, King Amanullah had Ahmadiyya executed or forcibly converted, and in 1924 affiliation with Ahmadiyya became a capital offense.[32]
In Bangladesh, Ahmadis have been targeted by various protests and acts of violence, and fundamentalist Islamic groups have demanded that Ahmadis be officially declared kafirs (infidels).[33] Some adherents of Ahmadiyya have been subject to “house arrest” and several have been killed. In late 2003 several large, violent marches, led by Moulana Moahmud Hossain Mumtazi, were directed to occupy an Ahmadi mosque. In 2004, all Ahmadiyya publications were banned.[34]
There has been a recent rise of persecution of Ahmadis in Egypt. In March 2010, nine Ahmadis were detained for allegedly insulting Islam.[35]
Ahmadis are persecuted in Saudi Arabia and it continues. [36]
In India, Ahmadis are held to be Muslims by law. This is supported by a verdict from the Kerala High Court on 8 December 1970 in the case of Shihabuddin Imbichi Koya Thangal vs K.P. Ahammed Koya, citation A.I.R. 1971 Ker 206.[4] In this landmark ruling, the court determined that Ahmadis are Muslims and that they cannot be declared apostates by other Muslim sects because they hold true to the two fundamental beliefs of Islam: that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad was a servant and messenger of god.[37]
While Ahmadis are considered Muslims by law and there are no legal restrictions on their religious activities,[4] they are not permitted by fellow Muslims of other sects to sit on the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, a body of religious leaders that the Indian government recognises as representative of Indian Muslims.[38]
Ahmadis were denied permission to meet in Hyderabad. This was done with help of chief minister and the government. It was the because of the protests from the Islamic groups.[39][40][41] On 19 August 2008 Islamic cleric named Maulvi Habib-ur-Rehman incited hatred for the people in a rally. On the night of 21/22 August 2008, three Ahmadis were attacked. Their properties were damaged. Totally, six persons were attacked.[42]
In Chennai, the body of a 36 year old Ahmadi woman of the community by “anti-social elements” from a graveyard. at Royapettah on June 1. Ahmadis alleged the police intervention in this issue. They did a press conference. They told the detailed of the incident and persecution faced by Islamic clerics. Madras High Court beliefs Ahmadis to be Muslims.[43] Muslims led by Shahi Imam Habib-ur-Rehman Sani protested against Jalsa Salana. Muslims all across the state have joined hands in the protests. Indian finance minister Pranab Mukerjee was likely to attend the Jalsa Salana. Muslims damaged his office and blocked the traffic for stopping the annual convention of Ahmadis. Police imposed curfew for three days. Many people were injured and one Sikh died. When the convention was held, the protestors presented ant-Ahamdiyya document to the chief commissioner to be forwarded to Prakash Singh Badal. The protest was organized in all the big mosques of Punjab.[44]
Islamic clerics threatened that the Mayawati government remove Ahmadiyya sect from syllabus.[45]
In Mumbai, Darul Uloom Deoband had asked the Saudi Arabia's government to ban Ahmadis from doing Hajj. The spokesperson said that Ahmadis do not believe in the finality prophethood therefore they cannot do Hajj. They sent a letter to the government. Ahmadi spokesperson said that they are not aware of it.[46] In New Delhi, Ahmadis faced protest at peace mission. They were going to spread the light of Islam and peace through the Quran but they were the protests from the Muslims of India. All India Muslim Personal Law Board's members is also included in it. Ahmadis changed the timings of the convention.Maulana Bukhari and his protestors were detained in a police station for protesting against this.[47][48][49][50][51]
In 2008, many Muslims in Indonesia protested against the Ahmadiyya movement. With violence and large demonstrations, these religious conservatives put pressure on the government to monitor, and harass the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Indonesia.[52] Public opinion in Indonesia is split in three ways on how Ahmadiyya should be treated: (a) some hold it should be banned outright on the basis that it is a heretical and deviant sect that is not listed as an officially recognised religion in Indonesia; (b) others hold that it should not be banned because of the freedom of religion article in the Constitution, but also should not be allowed to proselytise under the banner of "Islam" on the basis that this is misleading; (c) still others hold that it should be free to do and say as it pleases based on the Constitutional right to freedom of religion.[53] In June 2008, a law was passed to curtail “proselytizing” by Ahmadiyya members.[54] An Ahmadiyya mosque was burned.[55] Human rights groups objected to the restrictions on religious freedom.[56] A government decree adopted in 2008 under pressure from Islamic conservatives bans the sect from spreading its faith.[57]
In July 2010, a mob of 200 Indonesians surrounded an Ahmadi mosque in Manislor village in Kuningan district, West Java. The mob pelted the mosque with stones before being dispersed by the police.[58]
On February 6, 2011 three (originally reported as six, and later amended) Ahmadiyya members were killed at Pandeglang, Banten province, in a clash between locals.[59] While the government did instruct police to hunt the killers, it also called on Ahmadiyya to abide by the 2008 decree and stop spreading their belief.[60]
In July 2011 the prosecuting sought sentences of between five to seven months for the defendants, an act which caused outcry by rights activists.[61] The verdict given was between three and six months, slightly lighter than sought. This has trigger criticism from human right defenders and the international community including the US and the EU.[62] In addition, a Cikeusik Ahmadi leader, Deden Darmawan Sudjana, was also sentenced to six months in prison for physical abuse and acts against the state, refusing an order from a police officer who told him to leave the house.[63] A US State Department spokeswoman said they were "disappointed" with the verdict, while an activist of the New York based Human Rights Watch, called it "the Talibanization of Indonesia".[64]
In April 2009, the Selangor Islamic Religious Council of Malaysia issued a letter which forbade members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community to offer Friday prayers at their central mosque with immediate effect. Moreover, its failure by the Ahmadis to comply with the terms of the order will result in imprisonment of up to one year and/or a fine up to 3000 Malaysian ringgit. A large notice has been place outside the mosque which states Qadiani Bukan Agama Islam which translates to Qadiani [Ahmadiyyat] is not Islam.[65][66]
In 2009 a demonstration consisting of mainly Muslims was held in Walsall to prevent Ahmadis acquiring a mosque.[67]
In 2010, in the wake of the May 2010 attacks on two Ahmadi mosques in Lahore, Pakistan, members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community living in the UK were threatened and intimidated. Certain Muslim groups in South London distributed leaflets asking readers to kill Ahmadis and boycott their businesses, and Ahmadi mosques in Crawley and Newham were vandalised. In October 2010 Ofcom criticised the UK-based Ummah Channel for broadcasting three interactive television programmes before and after the Lahore massacre of Ahmadi Muslims in May 2010, in which religious leaders and callers alike said that Ahmadis should be killed. These programmes were repeated several times. Ofcom stated that the programme's abusive treatment of the religious views and beliefs of members of the Ahmadiyya community breached UK broadcasting regulations.[68][69]
Nasser Butt, a Liberal Democrats parliamentary candidate for the 2010 general election was targeted by campaign, asking Muslims not to vote for him in order to prevent him being elected because of his faith. In the upcoming election hustings in the Tooting Islamic centre, a Conservative candidate Mark Clarke was mistaken to be Butt and so had to be locked in a room for his safety.[70]
Muslim Television Ahmadiyya International (MTA) has produced four documentaries regarding the persecution of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community over the last century.
Political groups associated with the persecution of the Ahmadis include the Khatme Nabuwwat movement[71] (Aalmi Majlis Tahaffuz Khatm-e-Nubuwwat, Pasban Khatme Nabuwwat, Tanzeem-e-Islami and Tehreek-e-Khatme Nabuwwat), Jamaat-e-Islami[72]
Anti-Ahmadiyya propaganda is also done in the media. In Pakistan, anti-Ahmadiyya anchor named as Aamir Liaquat Hussain spread hate campaign and killing Ahmadis as legal in his program Aalim Online. His program is online on Pakistani websites [23][24][73] Liaquat was expelled from MQM after this. Mubasher Lucman, a prominent non religious personality also broadcast anti-Ahmadiyya campaign in his program named as Point Blank with Lucman on 16 June 2010. This program is available on YouTube.[74]
Ummah Channel, broadcast three interactive programs against Ahmadis in the wake of Lahore massacre[69][75][76] Ofcom criticized Ummah Channel for doing this.
Jhang Group of Newspapers, a Pakistani newspaper issues special edition against the faith of Ahmadis.[77] Anti-Ahmadiyya magazine is also published online.[78]
Anti-Ahmadiyyaa propaganda is also spread on the internet. There are many websites like.
Qadiani and Mirzai are the pejorative terms used by the Muslims all over the world.
Ahmadi students faced discrimination in Pakistan in 2011 because of their faith.[30]
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