Perspective: 'Great hope' to change the western narrative on Islam | Ahmed Sahi

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Justice, consideration for others’ rights, and a deep will for peace is what caliphate is truly supposed to be defined by.

His Holiness Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad is seen chatting with Former
PM Stephen Harper (Photo via Twitter: Dan McGarvey ‏@DanMcGarvey)

Times of Ahmad | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: Toronto Sun
By Ahmed Sahi | November 14, 2016

In the wake of a Donald Trump victory, there’s much uncertainty for Muslims in America, and also to a lesser degree, Muslims living in Canada. But where there’s uncertainty, there’s also great hope.

Over the last several weeks, right here in Canada, we’ve seen the emergence of a new Muslim leader onto the global stage, bringing with him a powerful message to change the western narrative on Islam.

His Holiness Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad has been so widely covered on virtually every print, digital and TV news outlet in the country that chances are you’ve probably heard of him. The Worldwide Head and Fifth Caliph of the Ahmadiyya Muslims, with followers in the tens of millions, he is leader of the world’s largest single group of Muslims following one imam.

He has spoken at Capitol Hill, the British Parliament, the EU Parliament, has been called a “Champion of Peace” by former prime minister Stephen Harper and hailed by Nancy Pelosi as “a figure of global prominence.” The Wall Street Journal has called him the “Pope of Islam.”

Indeed, caliphate has a new global face.

Although warlord Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the so-called caliph of ISIS, has dominated headlines, this new concept of Caliphate that has emerged on the world stage is being seen as spiritual in nature, and is cause for great hope in the Muslim world and in the battle against extremism in the west.

Thus far we’ve continuously been on our heels with ISIS, because we’ve failed to realize that caliphate is what gives ISIS the appeal to attract and rally disenfranchised individuals across the world to make attacks in the west.

But this is where these Western Muslims who are flocking towards ISIS go so wrong. Their concept of caliphate is utterly twisted.

Justice, consideration for others’ rights, and a deep will for peace is what caliphate is truly supposed to be defined by. When caliphate exists on these precepts — as defined by the Qur’an and the Prophet himself — then it can serve as a grand force for good, as the world witnessed once before through the caliphs that followed the Prophet of Islam, in the golden era of Islamic civilization.

Indeed, this is exactly what we’ve seen in Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad’s Canadian tour these past weeks. Addressing Canadian leaders at Parliament Hill, he spoke of justice between nations for world peace; speaking to thought leaders at York University, he talked about morality over money as the key to justice; and perhaps most notable amidst a Trump victory, during his Mansbridge special, the caliph reassured that no U.S. president would enact any senseless anti-Muslim measures.

Now that’s a voice we need. That’s hope. That’s what caliphate truly is.

And this is where we in the West, by proliferating the true concept of caliphate, can help cut at the root of ISIS’s power and appeal.

When will we provide the strong counter-narrative that is so needed?

As it stands today, we focus on the sensational. We focus on the negative. We focus on the problem.

When will we focus on the solution?


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Ahmed Sahi is a writer and journalist based in the Greater Toronto Area. He can be reached at ahmedsahi89@gmail.com


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