Australia: Religions and their followers find a safe haven

The 1974 constitution of Pakistan declared Ahmadis to be ''non Muslim'' and in 1984 it became an offence for them to describe themselves as Muslim. ''Even for us to say 'As-Salamu Alaykum','' he said, referring to the Arab greeting for ''peace be upon you''.

Ahmadiyya Muslim Association of Austarlia launched
Muslim for Peace initiative during 2010

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald
By SMH | April 22, 2011

The Ahmadiyya

The minaret towers above the landscape, just as it does on any mosque. Outside the doors, the men and woman leave their shoes. The men head upstairs for prayers, the women - whose head coverings range from a simple scarf to the hijab, which frames, but does not cover, the face - remain downstairs. Around the walls of the mosque are inscriptions from the Koran. To the observer, this mosque in Marsden Park is just another centre of Islam in Sydney. But to many mainstream Muslims, such as Sunni and Shia, the Ahmadiyya are a heretical sect, and over the past century they have been subjected to persecution, especially in Pakistan and, more recently, in Indonesia.

The Ahmadiyya believe that the second coming of the ''Promised Messiah'' has been fulfilled, revealed in 1889 in the person of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian in India. ''But he was not a law-bearing prophet,'' says the president of the Ahmadiyya Association of Australia, Mahmood Ahmad, who is also the amir and missionary-in-charge. That status belongs exclusively to Muhammad.


Mr Ahmad estimates there are about 3000 followers in Australia, and his mosque attracts up to 1000 Muslims for prayers each Friday and Saturday. In Pakistan the Ahmadi population is estimated at 5 million to 6 million.

The 1974 constitution of Pakistan declared Ahmadis to be ''non Muslim'' and in 1984 it became an offence for them to describe themselves as Muslim. ''Even for us to say 'As-Salamu Alaykum','' he said, referring to the Arab greeting for ''peace be upon you''.

Mr Ahmad says Ahmadis disavow all violence, believe in ''the jihad of the pen, not the sword'', and says the Koran explicitly states, ''There is no compulsion in religion''.


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