India: Ahmadiyya Muslims to hold peace meet in Mumbai

It is not often that Ahmadiyya Muslims hold a meeting outside their mosque and community centre near YMCA in Central Mumbai.

As a minority, they hit headlines mostly because of their persecution in Pakistan where they are officially declared non-Muslims.

The city's Ahmadiyyas will hold their first peace symposium, on February 6 at the Russian Centre for Science and Culture at Pedder Road.

"We are a peace-loving community and believe in the peaceful values of Islam. Since we are very small in number, our activities don't get highlighted in the media," says Syed Abdul Hadi Kashif, the community's missionary in-charge in Mumbai. UK-based Mirza Masroor Ahmed is their 5th imam and the head of a community spread across 207 countries.

Founded in 1889 by Mirza Ghulam Ahmed Qadiyani (1835-1908), the Ahmadiyya Muslim community is a revivalist movement in Islam (mainstream Muslims call it heretical). Its followers are called Qadiyanis since the sect's founder began this movement from Qadiyan in Punjab's Gurudaspur district. Ahmed claimed that God had sent him as Mahdi, the long-awaited Messiah to end religious strife and establish justice and peace. Mainstream Muslim ulemas (religious scholars) reject Ahmed's claims as "false" and "heretical" as he claimed that, apart from the awaited Mahdi, he was also a reincarnation of Jesus (Muslims believe Allah helped Jesus escape Crucifixion and he will return one day to vanquish injustice and violence). Since this contrasted with Ahmed's claims, he was accused of being a British stooge, a heretic and his followers still face the fury of fanatics.

Since Ahmadiyyas follow one leader, their imam Mirza Masroor Ahmed, they constantly seek the imam's guidance. "We meet twice a week, on Friday and Sunday, and preach the faith through literature which comprises copies of the Quran, the Hadith (sayings of Prophet Muhammad) and 85 books Mirza Ghulam Ahmed penned," says Masarrat Ahmed, the community's president in Mumbai.

A couple of years ago, Darul Uloom Deoband requested the Saudi government to prevent Ahmadiyyas from performing Haj. Darul Uloom said that Ahamdiyyas secure Haj visas claiming to be Muslims. "We are Muslims and, like other Muslims, do go on Haj and umrah (mini-Haj)," says Kashif who denounces Islamic State (IS) or ISIS as an un-Islamic outfit and its head Abu Baqar Baghdadi a "false" caliph.

Every Ahmadiyya gives 6.25% of his or her annual income to the community's baitulmal (central charitable fund) controlled by Mirza Masroor Ahmed. This is in addition to the 2.5% zakat every Muslim must give in charity.


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