The biggest roadblock is the miles and miles of propaganda that many clerics, even the least hostile or accepting of Ahmadi Muslims, have spread about us, our beliefs, our origins, and our activities.
Source/Credit: Author
By Mohammad Iqbal Khan | December 2, 2017
There was an article recently by a friend on how a CAIR rep supported a hate rally that happened in VA recently; someone commented that American Muslims need a better mainstream representative. The problem is that despite most American Muslims being good people, there's no real unity between them, it's impossible for them to really have one group represent them, especially if that means including those leaders who consider Ahmadis or Shia or other various sects as Kafirs like the ones who met in VA.
Even CAIR is not this one centralized group, they're all locally/regionally funded and operated so there's some CAIR groups that are cool working with Ahmadis and accepting us as Muslims while others wont even touch us with a 10 foot pole in fear that they'll lose the support of some Muslim clerics. I also read a while back that most Muslims, over 80%, don't feel CAIR represents them and with such diverse leadership and goals of their leaders, it's not surprising.
Muslims should forget about seeking a group to represent them all because it has been tried again and again since the end of the Rashidun Caliphate but Muslims have only become more and more divided. Instead, what they should be looking for is the group which represents Islam the best. Muslims do not completely agree on everything but with proper study of the Qur'an and other Islamic literature and the observation of the words and actions of different groups, one can discern who best follows Islamic teachings.
My belief is that ultimately, even if they disagree with our beliefs, most Muslims will eventually come to see the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community as the best representatives of Islamic teachings over all other clerics. Wherever we are established, we seek to spread peace and unity with Muslims and non-Muslims alike and work to better our society for the common good, the True Islam campaign is just one recent and local example of this. We are also the single largest Muslim organization in the world unified under one leadership, our Caliph, a spiritual leader elected by our community, not a worldly despot; no other group can claim these things.
The biggest roadblock is the miles and miles of propaganda that many clerics, even the least hostile or accepting of Ahmadi Muslims, have spread about us, our beliefs, our origins, and our activities. Along with the division of Muslims, they have put off most Muslims from having any desire to seek us out and engage us in our beliefs or activities in society.
If and when other Muslims give time to listen and understand what Ahmadis believe and do from us, they learn that even if they disagree with some of what we believe, it is not heretical or anti-Islamic and we actually agree with them on most Islamic beliefs. Even the most ardent opponents of our community have admitted at one time or another some praise for our leadership, activities, or teachings, it is their pride that drives them to write us off and spread propaganda about us.
There is no better group to work with, or join as some so wish, to advance the true teachings of Islam in our society in the pursuit of uniting humanity and improving the condition of all, physically, morally, and spiritually. No other groups works harder for peace and justice in a turbulent and unjust world and time.
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Mohammad Iqbal Khan is an aerospace engineer and a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA. Follow on Twitter: @jediknightkhan
Read original post here: Perspective: Only Ahmadi Muslims represent real Islam | Mohammad Iqbal Khan
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