Amadiyyah

Islamic sect, founded in India in 1889 by Mrz Ghulm Amad. It holds that Jesus feigned death and resurrection and escaped to India and that jihad is a peaceful battle against nonbelievers. Following the death of Ghulm Amad's successor (1914), the Amadiyyah split. The Qadiani, based in Rabwah, Pak., recognize Ghulm Amad as a prophet; they are zealous missionaries, preaching Amadi beliefs as the one true Islam. A Lahore-based sect regards Ghulm Amad merely as a reformer and seeks to make converts to Islam generally. The term Amadiyyah is also used to describe various Sufi orders ( Sufism), particularly that founded by Amad al-Badaw (d. 1276). One of the most popular orders in Egypt, it has branches throughout the Islamic world.