Monday, May 13, 2013
Eye on faith: Ahmadiyya Muslim Community holds unique beliefs
"...[W]e believe that the second coming of the Messiah has been fulfilled in the person of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and they're saying they're still waiting for someone to come."
Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
By Canan Tasci | May 12, 2013
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community began on March 23, 1889 by the 19th-century Indian-born Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.
It is the only Islamic organization to believe the long-awaited Messiah has come in the person of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, who is the fifth and current spiritual head of the community.
Ahmad claimed to be the metaphorical second coming of Jesus of Nazareth and the divine guide, whose advent was foretold by the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad, according to the Ahmadiyya website.
The community's first spiritual leader - Hakeem Noor-ud-Din, who was Mirza Ghulam Ahmad's great dicipel - was elected May 27, 1908.
The second spiritual leader of the community was Mirza Mahmood Ahmad in 1914, who is the son of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.
In 1965, Mirza Nasir Ahmad took over, followed by Mirza Tahir Ahmad in 1982.
Mirza Masroor Ahmad became the fifth worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community leader in 2003 and resides in United Kingdom.
The community is also the leading organization to condemn terrorism in any form and chant their motto, "love for all, hatred for none. "
"Our community is defined under the (true spirit) of Jihad, which means 'struggle for a good cause,'" said Imam Shamshad Nasir, of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community's Baitul Hameed Mosque in Chino.
"Killing is not a good cause, hurting innocent people is not a good cause. To respect and honor, that is a good cause."
The community has millions of members across 200 countries. But in Pakistan, thousands of Ahmadiyya's have been faced with a challenge of practicing Islam.
In 1974, the National Assembly of Pakistan passed its Constitution to read that the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community are considered non-Muslims.
Then, in 1984, the anti-Ahmadiyya movement in Pakistan continued when the community was deprived from their right to vote.
"This is because we believe that the second coming of the Messiah has been fulfilled in the person of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and they're saying they're still waiting for someone to come," he said.
Parliamentary elections will be May 11 in Pakistan, and, unless the community accepts they are non-Muslims, they will be granted the right to vote.
The fourth successor of the community left Pakistan to the United Kingdom when the ordinance was declared, if he stayed and tried to practice Islam, he would have been put in jail, Nasir said
"So if the leader of the community is put in jail, what would happen to the community as a whole?" he said.
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