Eye on Extremism: Member of Ahmadi sect laments violence against his community

...[D]espite the killings, the Ahmadi did not retaliate with an attack of their own. They hope to influence the government and eventually ensure religious freedom for Ahmadis and all religious minorities.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Staff | Minority report
Source & Credit: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
By Christie Storm | July 3, 2010

FAYETTEVILLE — A phone call awakened Hameed Naseem about 5 a.m. May 28. As often happens with calls at odd hours, this one conveyed bad news. His religious community was under attack.

Alerted by his sister-in-law, Naseem and his family rushed to turn on the television - a live feed from Pakistan. What they saw was carnage as gunmen killed Ahmadi Muslims, shooting them even as they said their evening prayers to Allah.

“They were showing live coverage of the mayhem being played out in broad daylight,” Naseem said. “They were showing these people on the rooftops and minarets shooting them. These people were saying their prayers when they were gunned down. They were praising the Lord and sending invocations to the holy prophet.”


Almost 100 men and women were killed and dozens injured, shot in their houses of worship. The Naseems quickly tried to contact family members in Lahore, Pakistan, to ensure they were safe.

The gunmen, ironically, were believed to be Muslims - Muslims who consider the Ahmadi guilty of heresy and worthy of death.

“It was very painful but we believe these are martyrs and their blood doesn’t go in vain,” Naseem said. “The Koran says don’t even say they are dead.

They are alive and they are being fed by God. They are alive in the sense that they will not be forgotten by us.”

The Ahmadi (Ahmadiyya) community was established in 1889 by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who followers believe is the messiah. Before his death in 1908, Ahmad told the faithful that the prophethood would continue through a line of caliphs or successors. The current and fifth spiritual leader is Mirza Masroor Ahmad.

“What differentiates us from other Muslims is that we believe in the messiah,” Naseem said. “We believe the second coming foretold by the prophet Muhammad was fulfilled by the coming of our founder.”

It’s that belief that other Muslims cannot accept.

To them it is blasphemy. Ihsan Bagby, associate professor in the Islamic Studies Program at the University of Kentucky at Lexington, said Ahmadis violate the mainstream Muslim belief that Muhammad was the last prophet of God.

“The vast majority of Muslims do not consider them to be Muslim,” Bagby said.

To understand the conflict, it’s necessary to learn more about Ahmad. His claim to be the incarnation of the second coming of Christ conflicts not only with Christian teaching but with the teachings of traditional Islam. Most Muslims hold to the teachings that Christ was a prophet, a great teacher, but not divine, nor was he crucified. Rather, God raised him to heaven alive. Muslims are taught that Jesus will return one day to battle the false messiah.

In contrast, Ahmad stated that Christ had not been crucified but had survived and lived to old age, dying a natural death. He said God had chosen another - Ahmad - to come as the messiah in the spirit of Jesus. His claim to be the messiah caused an uproar in the 19th century and continues to stir conflict today.

Naseem, 56, said initially Ahmad was seen as a champion of Islam, but his announcement that he was God’s reformer for the age did not sit well with many Muslims.

“That’s when opposition to him started, especially with his claim that he was the messiah .... it’s not a small claim.It’s a huge claim, so you would understand he had to suffer a lot at the hands of all kinds of people. Great Muslim scholars turned against him ... the local Muslims became enemies of him.”

Today, Ahmadis face persecution in many Muslim countries but none so much as in Pakistan, Naseem said. There, the sect has been officially declared non-Muslim since 1974, and their ability to worship or share their beliefs has been restricted since 1984. Attacks on Ahmadis are common, Naseem said, and many are arrested for simply living out their faith.

“My wife’s uncle has been arrested many times. Why? Because in his eyeglass shop he has a verse of the Koran just like I have here.” Ahmadis are discouraged from publicly displaying scripture or prayers, he said.

All it takes for an arrest is for someone to complain to the police, he said.

“This draconian law is still in their books,” Naseem said. “So a sword hangs on top of every Ahmadi.”

The law prevents Ahmadis from even saying the traditional Muslim greeting, “peace be upon you.” They cannot use the word mosque to describe their houses of worship, and in gathering for prayers they are risking retaliation.

“The police have defaced our mosque, taking chisels and taking off Allah’s name, taking it down [and dumping it] into open sewage,” Naseem said. “You would think in the 21st century people would not behave like the 14th or 15thcentury when Europe was in total darkness. Then, people couldn’t see what was going on, but here this is done in daylight.”

Naseem, a professor in the college of engineering at the University of Arkansas, said he hopes the American government will take notice of the religious persecution in Pakistan and force the government to make concessions when they are given U.S. aid.

Bagby, the University of Kentucky professor, says Muslim attitudes toward Ahmadis vary from country to country. “Just because they are considered non-Muslim would not necessarily, from the viewpoint of Islam, mean persecution,” Bagby said.

Even though he is a native of India, Naseem said he feels the pain of his fellow Ahmadi in Pakistan and is pushing for change.

“Our appeal to the president and to Congress is that they go back and require from Pakistan certain behavior when we dole out taxpayer money to them. They have been given money [with] no strings attached,” he said.

Although Naseem is an American citizen and lives in a land with guarantees of religious freedom, he does face opposition here from fellow Muslims. He has been threatened and verbally attacked for his beliefs, he said. Dinner parties have turned ugly when some guests realized he’s an Ahmadi, he said.

Naseem recalled one evening with friends and some new acquaintances, one from Saudi Arabia. When the host discovered he was Ahmadi he said, “I don’t want to hear a word about Islam from your mouth.”

“Because they think that to discuss Islam with us is also sinful,” Naseem said. “These incidences have happened to all of us, too many times. ... It’s a struggle. A lot of friends consider me a very good Muslim but consider my community as deviant. They think I’m the exception.”

Naseem said the problems he encounters here pale in comparison to what occurs in Pakistan and other countries.

“When somebody calls me up and asks if I’m OK I say no one is misbehaving with me. You have to see everything in perspective.”

Mohammed Zafarullah Hanjra, the imam or clergyman for Ahmadis in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas, said the community in the United States is small, about 15,000 throughout the country.

“We are scattered, but every Friday we pray together,” Hanjra said. “We discuss issues, how to raise our children. We call and e-mail. We are connected.”

They also keep in touch through chapter gatherings. Naseem is president of the Tulsa chapter. Satellite television has also been a boon for the community. With it they can see what is happening in Pakistan, India and other countries. Sometimes they can even catch a glimpse of family and friends on weekly Ahmadi religious broadcasts. The Internet also helps Ahmadi stay connected.

“We don’t feel too far away as much,” he said.

The satellite channels allowed many Ahmadi in America to see the attacks on their worship sites in Lahore. Some saw their friends killed. One of Hanjra’s friends died. He had left the United States to return to Lahore for a visit only weeks before.

“Before he left he said, ‘Please remember me in your prayers,’” Hanjra said. “He was killed.”

Many others were also wounded, which Naseem said hurts the entire community.

“For us the pain is much deeper. We are knit into a very strong community and anything that happens to hurt anyone hurts the entire Ahmadi community.”

Naseem said despite the killings, the Ahmadi did not retaliate with an attack of their own. They hope to influence the government and eventually ensure religious freedom for Ahmadis and all religious minorities.

“We have been told that we are the followers of a messiah and his teaching is you take it with your head down and you pray,” he said. “We have been doing it. The Ahmadi are brave people. They just went and buried their dead. God will take our revenge.”

This article was published July 3, 2010
Religion, Pages 12 on 07/03/2010



Read original post here: Member of Ahmadi sect laments violence against his community