His Holiness has traveled worldwide to promote service to humanity. He regularly meets and lectures before presidents, prime ministers, other heads of state, and congressional assemblies.
Source/Credit: Ahmadiyya Muslim Community
By Muslims For Peace | April 4, 2014
Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad (Mir-za Mas-roor Ah-mad) is the fifth Khalifa (Caliph) of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. Elected to this lifelong position on April 22, 2003, he serves as the worldwide spiritual and administrative head of an ever-growing international organization of tens of millions of Muslims in more than 200 nations.
Peace Initiatives
His Holiness is the world’s leading Muslim figure promoting peace and inter-religious harmony. Through his sermons, lectures, books, and personal meetings, His Holiness continually advocates for the separation of mosque and state and universal human rights.
In 2008, His Holiness launched a worldwide campaign to convey the peaceful message of Islam through all forms of media, including print, television, radio, and the Internet. The following year, he launched the annual International Peace Symposium, awarding the International Peace Prize to individuals who demonstrate an extraordinary commitment to peace and humanitarian efforts. His Holiness launched the international Muslims for Peace and Muslims for Loyalty campaigns in 2010. Under these campaigns, Community members worldwide are engaged in grassroots efforts to personally distribute millions of peace fliers to Muslims and non-Muslims alike, host interfaith and peace symposiums, host exhibits of the Holy Qur’an to present its true message, and remain at the forefront of humanitarian service. These campaigns serve to demonstrate that Islam champions peace, loyalty, and service to one’s nation of residence.
Public Service
His Holiness has traveled worldwide to promote service to humanity. He regularly meets and lectures before presidents, prime ministers, other heads of state, and congressional assemblies. As an agricultural economist, His Holiness takes a particular interest in Third World nations to help improve their access to food and water. He also funds the tuition and educational expenses of numerous students around the world, irrespective of their faith. His Holiness has also advanced Islamic scholarship and the cause of peace through www.muslimsforpeace.org. Likewise, His Holiness oversees Humanity First, an international non-profit disaster relief and development organization dedicated towards alleviating human suffering and building self-sufficient communities.
Response to Persecution
Following his election, His Holiness was forced into exile from Pakistan, his native country. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community faces severe State-sanctioned persecution in Pakistan, due to its belief in the Messiah, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian. The Government of Pakistan has criminalized Ahmadi Muslim religious practice. Violation of these repressive laws results in fine, imprisonment, and, potentially, capital punishment.
Despite the religious persecution that His Holiness and other Community members face in various Muslim majority nations, His Holiness has expressly forbidden any retaliatory violence, a hallmark of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.
Biography
His Holiness was born on September 15th, 1950 in Rabwah, Pakistan to Mirza Mansoor Ahmad and Nasira Begum Ahmad. Upon completing his Masters in Agricultural Economics in 1977 from the Agriculture University in Faisalabad, Pakistan, His Holiness formally dedicated his life to the service of Islam. From 1977 to 1985, His Holiness served in Ghana, engaged in social, educational, and agricultural development projects. He is credited with successfully growing wheat on Ghanaian soil for the first time in the nation’s history. His Holiness returned to Pakistan in 1985 and served in various high level administrative positions within the Community during the next 18 years, including Director General of the Community’s international executive body from 1997-2003. His hobbies include gardening, reading, photography and taking walks.
His Holiness resides in London, UK with his wife, Amtul Sabooh Ahmad. He has two children and three grandchildren.
Khalifatul Masih (Successor to the Messiah)
The divine institution of Khilafat-established in 1908 upon the demise of the Promised Messiah, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian-is the hallmark of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. Though comprising a small percentage of the Muslim World, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community represents the world’s largest group of Muslims united behind a single leader-known as the Khalifatul Masih. Khilafat is the source of the Community’s unity, vibrancy, organization, and progress. Today, under the guidance and instruction of Khilafatul Masih V, Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the Community continues to grow as a world leader in peace and humanitarian efforts.
For more information on Khilafat visit www.alislam.org/khilafat.
Read original post here: Meet the Muslim Leader who is a tireless advocate for peace: Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad
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