Faith and common sense: Messiah believers a sect apart

In Pakistan,... an Ahmadi who says he is a Muslim is breaking the law. Worse, "the prosecution for murdering an Ahmadi is not as vigorously pursued as it would be for other people." [John Voll, professor of Islamic history at Georgetown University in Washington]

Ahmadiyya Times | News Staff |
Source & Credit: The Columbus Dispatch
By Meredith Heagney May 28, 2101

On a stormy Friday, a group of worshippers filed into the 2-year-old mosque to pray.

Behind a tall partition, one old woman and two young ones bent their heads in unison. In front, out of their view, about a dozen men stood shoulder to shoulder doing the same.

The small group prayed in the traditional Muslim fashion - bending at the waist, then kneeling, then putting their faces to the ground. The man offering the sermon spoke in both Arabic and English. The women covered their heads and dressed modestly.


They dressed, acted and prayed like Muslims. But there is debate about whether they really are.

In some Muslim countries, this sect of Islam - called the Ahmadiyya movement - faces harsh persecution.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Columbus, based at 3360 Toy Rd. in Groveport, is part of a worldwide movement that advocates nonviolence and believes the messiah has come.

In 1889, an Indian man named Mirza Ghulam Ahmad claimed to be the messiah that the prophet Muhammad had said would come and fulfill his revelations.

Ahmadi Muslims believe God sent Ahmad, as he did Jesus, to end religious wars and advocate for peace and justice. They do not believe either man was the son of God or otherwise divine.

Other kinds of Islam allow for violence in certain situations, but Ahmadi Muslims are always pacifists, even if they are being oppressed, said Dr. Abdus Malik, president of the Columbus community.

Other Muslims are "finding through bitter experience that (violence) is not the right path," said Malik, a physician.

"Our message is 120 years old."

Usama Awan, a 17-year-old Pickerington Central High School student, said the Ahmadiyya movement represents "the true Islam."

"We approach people first with love," he said.

The Ahmadi community is indeed a peaceful one, said Akbar Ahmed, the chair of Islamic studies at American University in Washington and a former ambassador from Pakistan to the United Kingdom. Like 90percent of the Muslim world, Ahmed is a Sunni.

The Ahmadis aren't the only Muslims who push for peace, Ahmed said. But among Muslims who follow a literal interpretation of the Quran, "there will be a large number who say Islam is under attack, we must defend Islam," meaning that war can be justified.

The Ahmadi sect is, Ahmed acknowledged, treated horribly in his native Pakistan. Many Muslims consider it blasphemy to say that Muhammad was followed by another prophet such as Ahmad.

Ahmadi Muslims do consider Ahmad a prophet, Malik said, but Muhammad is the "master prophet," above the rest.

In Pakistan, Malik's native country, an Ahmadi who says he is a Muslim is breaking the law, said John Voll, professor of Islamic history at Georgetown University in Washington.

Worse, "the prosecution for murdering an Ahmadi is not as vigorously pursued as it would be for other people," Voll said.

To get a passport in Pakistan, one must sign a declaration that Ahmadis are not Muslims, said Ahmed, who was ambassador in 1999 and 2000 and once had a political opponent spread a false rumor that he was an Ahmadi.

"I regret what has happened to the Ahmadis, because they were always loyal Pakistanis," Ahmed said. "And their community has been destroyed."

American Muslims carry a residual prejudice against the Ahmadiyya movement, Ahmed said. It's similar to the debate around whether the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormonism, is a Christian church, he said.

Momin Malik, 25, a recent graduate of Ohio State University and one of three women praying last Friday, said she was friends with mainstream Muslims in college. She is Dr. Malik's niece.

Still, she said, "the rest of the Muslims don't even think of us as Muslims."

The local community has about 100 worshippers, most of them originally from India and Pakistan, Dr. Malik said. The movement also has chapters in Dayton, Athens, Toledo and Cleveland, among 71 in the United States.

About 15,000 Ahmadis live in the United States, he said.

The community is baffled by Islamic extremists and those who would threaten America, he said.

"We have more freedom here than in our own countries. So why wouldn't we be loyal? Islam prohibits us from creating disorder."

mheagney@dispatch.com



Read original post here: Messiah believers a sect apart