"Our message is more than 125 years old; nothing has changed. We want to remove misconceptions that have crept up about Islam -- most notably the interpretation of jihad."
Source/Credit: International Business Times
By Ismat Sarah Mangla | August 27 2015
Last Sunday, on a 210-acre farm in a lush hamlet some 65 miles from London, more than 35,000 Muslims from 96 countries gathered to pledge their allegiance to a 107-year-old worldwide caliphate. Millions from around the globe joined the ceremony live via satellite television. Their vow? To uphold the oneness of God, bear witness in the prophet Muhammad, and obey their caliph “in everything good.”
The caliph in question was Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the spiritual leader of the worldwideAhmadiyya Muslim Community, a Muslim group that exists in more than 200 countries around the world and claims to represent Islam's true peaceful teachings. The pledge ceremony was part of the community’s international Jalsa Salana, or annual convention, Britain’s largest Muslim conference. At a time when the radicalization of Muslims in the United Kingdom is a flashpoint issue, the convention and its message of peace stands in sharp contrast to the the likes of fiery British Muslim clerics like Anjem Choudary, who has been charged with "inviting support" for extremist groups like ISIS.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, whose motto is "Love for all, hatred for none," does not fall under the two major Sunni or Shi’ite sects in Islam. Instead, it was founded in 1889 by Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, India. Ahmad claimed to be a subservient prophet of Muhammad, the founder of Islam, sent by God to revive the religion and serve as the messiah of the modern age.
"Our message is more than 125 years old; nothing has changed," said Basharat Nazir, a spokesman for the community in the United Kingdom. "We want to remove misconceptions that have crept up about Islam -- most notably the interpretation of jihad."
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community staunchly rejects the notion of violent jihad. Instead, Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad has said that "the greater jihad is the jihad of reforming one's self and that is never ending and forever ... True jihad is the reformation of the evils, which are borne in the times of relative peace and comfort. Serving mankind is a real jihad." He has pointed to the community's humanitarian efforts around the world as its engagement in that jihad.
Since the community’s founding in a dusty Indian village, it has expanded its reach all over the world. The community estimates its numbers in the tens of millions -- with some figures placing worldwide membership at 150 million. It established a caliphate after the founder of the community died in 1908. Since his demise, there have been five caliphs. Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad is currently serving at the fifth caliph and worldwide leader of the community.
But for many mainstream Muslims around the world, Ahmadi Muslims are considered heretical because of their belief in the advent of a subservient prophet after Muhammad. As a result, Ahmadi Muslims sometimes face violent persecution in Muslim countries such as Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. In Pakistan, Ahmadis are legally declared to be non-Muslims and can be imprisoned for practicing their faith.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community holds three-day annual conventions in most countries where it is established, but the one in England, held this past weekend, is considered to be the worldwide convention which draws Ahmadi Muslims from around the world. That’s because the Ahmadiyya caliphate has been headquartered in London since 1984, when the fourth caliph of the community left Pakistan after the government instituted Ordinance XX, which restricted the religious freedom of the Ahmadiyya community there. This year’s convention attracted more than 35,000 attendees, including non-Muslim guest and heads of various governments.
The convention also included several exhibitions, including a photographic display of the history of the community and an exhibition displaying a replica of the Shroud of Turin, a linen cloth that some believe was the burial shroud of Jesus Christ. Barrie Schwortz, a researcher and expert on the shroud, gave several lectures at the convention on the shroud. The Ahmadiyya community, which emphasizes interfaith relations, invited Schwortz to speak through the Review of Religions, the community’s 113-year-old journal on comparative religion.
“I was thrilled to be a Jewish guy presenting about a Christian relic at an Islamic event,” said Schwortz, who is based in Colorado. “Not many people in the U.S. know about the Ahmadiyya community and we should.”
At the convention, Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad had strong words for certain Muslim clerics who sow the seeds of terrorism around the world: “Today we are clearly seeing the fulfilment of the prophecy of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, in which he said a time would come when the Muslim clerics would not spread anything but ignorance, injustice and disorder and their words would be at complete odds with their deeds.”
He addressed the convention in five separate speeches, which were all broadcast around the world through the community’s international satellite television channel, Muslim Television Ahmadiyya. In his final address, he defended religion against those who claim that it is a cause of injustice and disorder in the world.
“This is due to a misunderstanding of religion itself,” he said. “The disorder and injustice we see around the world is not as a result of religion; rather, it is being perpetuated by self-interest and greed. It is a result of people misusing the name of God to fulfill their vested interest, and it is also a result of the denial of the very existence of God.”
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Email: i.mangla@ibtimes.com
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