Perspective: To regret or not to regret, that is the question

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I have so many blessings that have only been given to me because of Ahmadiyyat, and I truly would not have it any other way.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: Ahmadiyya Times
By Saniya Ahmad | December 9, 2013

Today, I got asked an interesting question: "Nobody is born in this world with their own choice. If you had to.. would you change your beliefs or will you remain the same?"

It inspired me enough to write a post about it because I don't think I could have justified my answer in just a couple of lines.

Contrary to common assumptions, I do not feel ashamed in any way of being an Ahmadi. Regardless of how Pakistan and most of it's population has made me feel. I feel no regrets in belonging to a sect, which has been ostracized by the nation. I do not think I could have it any better, belonging to a community where people are so loving and caring, that they put forward others' needs in front of their own, where people are tightly knitted into a brotherhood. I can not even imagine a life without Ahmadiyyat and the brother/sisterhood that comes along with it.

This country has learned just to detest Ahmadis. The new generations have grown up being brainwashed, learning that Ahmadis are not good people in any sense of that word. I have seen little kids, barely in their teens, writing posts on social networks about how Ahmadis deserve to die, and if you ask them whether they even know why they hate Ahmadis so much, they have no answer because they do not know the history. Nowadays, it goes like this - if people figure it out that you're Ahmadi, they will stop talking to you without any explanation, and they will expect you to realise that it is your fault, not theirs. They will constantly keep it hanging over your head that you're an Ahmadi - a lesser human being, which in this country means you are no more than a piece of dirt on the road, meant to be stepped and stomped on. Not everyone is like that though; this I'd like to clarify here. I have found a LOT of people in real life, and on social networks who sympathize with Ahmadis, and who know I'm an Ahmadi and they are still on very good terms with me. So, saying the whole nation is against Ahmadis would be one huge exaggeration. In fact, there are a lot of people backing us up and supporting us Ahmadis as well.

Coming back to the question, I'd like to say, I wouldn't change a single thing. Although I do wish that I could help make our detractors understand that we aren't plotting any conspiracies, like they believe we are, nor do we disbelieve in the teachings of Islam in any way -- even though that is a matter between man and God, not man and man. I also wish I could make them realise that we are a peace loving community. But that is something out of my hands.

Living as an Ahmadi in Pakistan is very hard, considering you see banners and flyers everywhere, spewing profanities at us, and some shops don't allow us to go inside as if we are some bad omen, and then there are the looks.. The looks that follow you where ever you go, judging you, criticizing you, condemning you. Regardless of all this, if it were my choice, I would stay here, in this community. Because everything aside, Ahmadiyyat has given me so much, that without it, I don't think I'd be as religious and spiritual as I am now. I also wouldn't have the motto "Love for all, hatred for none" etched into my mind. I have so many blessings that have only been given to me because of Ahmadiyyat, and I truly would not have it any other way.

However, here, I would want to thank all of my non-Ahmadi friends, every single one of them -- as I have made through the years in real life, and on Twitter and Facebook -- for supporting me through this, for not judging me for which sect I belong to, for not leaving me because I am an Ahmadi, for loving me as I am. I have been a pessimist throughout my life, having seen what has happened to Ahmadis over the years. I have seen the hate myself in university when half of the people just cut off all contact with me, and the other half just made fun of my religion behind my back, but you guys have made me realise that there are a lot of genuinely sincere people out there as well. I can not thank you enough for that.


 -- Perspective: To regret or not to regret, that is the question



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