An overview of Ahmadiyya Community

[Love4All]

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is a religious organization, international in its scope, with branches in over 193 countries in Africa, North America, South America, Asia, Australia, and Europe. This is the most dynamic denomination of Islam in modern history, with worldwide membership exceeding tens of millions.

The Ahmadiyya Community was established in 1889 by Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908) in a small and remote village, Qadian, in the Punjab, India. He claimed to be the expected reformer of the latter days, the Awaited One of the world community of religions (The Mahdi and Messiah). The Community he started is an embodiment of the benevolent message of Islam -- peace, universal brotherhood, and submission to the Will of God -- in its pristine purity. Hadhrat Ahmad proclaimed Islam as the religion of man: "The religion of the people of the right path" (98:6)

Wherever the Community is established, it endeavors to exert a constructive influence of Islam through social projects, educational institutes, health services, Islamic publications and construction of mosques, despite being bitterly persecuted in some countries. Ahmadi Muslims have earned the distinction of being a law-abiding, peaceful, persevering and benevolent community.

Some Ahmadis', like late Sir Muhammad Zafrulla Khan (who served as the first Foreign Minister of Pakistan; President of the 17th General Assembly of U.N.O.; President and Judge of the International Court of Justice, at the Hague), and Dr. Abdus Salam (the Nobel Laureate in Physics in 1979), have also been recognized by the world community for their outstanding services and achievements.

After the demise of its founder, the Ahmadiyya Community has been headed by his elected successors -- Khalifas. The present Head of the Movement, Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, was elected in 2003. His official title is Khalifatul Massih V.

 

[TashaN]

Is there anything you would like to discuss?

And welcome to the Forums by the way.

 

[Love4All]

Thanks for welcoming me..

I just wanted to give a brief introduction about my community for the people who are not so familiar with us. Of course you being a muslim would already know about Ahmadiyyat.

 

[K.Venugopal]

Do Ahmadiyya's consider themselves Muslims? If so, why the identification as Ahmadiyyas? Is it due to different interpretations of the Quran that different Muslim identities arise?

 

[Love4All]

Do Ahmadiyya's consider themselves Muslims? If so, why the identification as Ahmadiyyas? Is it due to different interpretations of the Quran that different Muslim identities arise?

Hi Venugopal,
Firstly, yes we consider ourselves muslim. Our community's name is Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. We call ourselves Ahmadi muslims.

Secondly, there is an important thing that you must understand, Ahmadiyya Community is an International Movement that has a specified goal and has some organizational protocols. This is the community formed by the Promised Messiah.
We identify ourselves as Ahmadi Muslims not just because we differ in Quranic interpretation from other Muslims. We call ourselves Ahmadis because of the fact that we are a community having one leader, that is our Caliph. This separates us from rest of the muslims, nowhere in the islamic world will you see such a religious community.


Also that ,simply believing our teachings does not make a person an ahmadi, he/she must become a member of our movement/community to gain the right to be called Ahmadi. Although if anyone believes in our teachings then I don't see any reason that might keep him/her away from the membership of our community.

Hope this answers your question.

Thanks

 

[K.Venugopal]

We call ourselves Ahmadis because of the fact that we are a community having one leader, that is our Caliph. This separates us from rest of the muslims, nowhere in the islamic world will you see such a religious community.

Dear Love4All, If by "such a religious community" you mean a community having one leader, then I think the Bohra Muslims as well as the Khoja Muslims also each have their one leader. Be it as it may, when you say, "We identify ourselves as Ahmadi Muslims not just because we differ in Quranic interpretation from other Muslims", has the Quran itself sanctioned your right to interpret as you wish? The Quran says it is a book wherein there is no doubt. Different interpretations of a book of which there is and has ever been only one version and not a dot has been changed till date only indicates that doubts have arisen as to the import of at least some of its verses. Please clarify.

 

[Love4All]

Hi,

You mentioned Bohra and Khoja muslims, (I knew you would) but you didnot mention Jamaat-e-islami .
Bohra and Khoja muslim communities are more of ethnic communities than religious ones. They donot welcome everyone into their community and not everybody can become Bohra and Khoja. Both of them have their own ethnic rituals that has nothing to do with Islam.


But anyways when I said that our community is distinct, I meant that we have a caliph. In Islam institution of caliphate is very important . Many muslims are trying to make one caliph of there own but according to muslim belief only God can appoint a caliph among the muslims.

As for us we are a multicultural, multinational, ethnically diverse religious Community. We have ahmadis in more than 190 countries of different ethnic backgrounds.



Now you asked " has the Quran itself sanctioned your right to interpret as you wish? "

Firstly Muslims donot disagree on basic Quranic teachings, it is the finer details that are the cause of divide.
Secondly , Quran does not gives us the right to interpret as we wish. Quran is the book of God and only HE can tell how to interpret. Thats why He promised to send teachers(mujaddid) to us regularly, who will teach us Quran . Mohammad(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) told us that there will one mujaddid every hundred years and after 14 centuries the Promised Messiah will be sent.

You further said:"Different interpretations of a book of which there is and has ever been only one version and not a dot has been changed till date only indicates that doubts have arisen as to the import of at least some of its verses"

You must understand that Islam is a universal religion and can be adjusted in every time and situation. At the time when Islam came, the world was very primitive compared to today's world. BUT Allah knew that the world will change drastically over the years, so in Quran Allah defined His borders that are the basic guiding principles for Islam. These principles are broad enough to encompass all the people of every time. Islam gives us our options but the choice is ours to choose the best according to situation.
Now that choice is the interpretation that we make about Quran. And only God's true teacher can tell us the correct choice to make.

For a small example, In Islam if a woman get widowed, there is no compulsion upon her to get married or get burned or die with her husband. But if she want to get married she can but if she chooses to live alone she may. Likewise about the beard, it is optional. Hence , only the core teachings of Islam are to be strictly followed, other than that its upto the person's choice.

You are welcome to ask any question.

 

[iloveislam]

Dear Love4All

Do you bear witness that Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the final Prophet and Messenger of Allah?

Do you believe in these verses of the Qur'an:

“It is not for a believer, man or woman, when Allah and His Messenger have decreed a matter that they should have any option in their decision. And whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger, he has indeed strayed in a plain error.” [Al-Qur'an 33:36]


"Obey Allah and obey the messenger, and beware! But if ye turn away, then know that the duty of Our messenger is only plain conveyance (of the message)." [Al-Qur'an 5:92]


"O ye who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the messenger and those of you who are in authority; and if ye have a dispute concerning any matter, refer it to Allah and the messenger if ye are (in truth) believers in Allah and the Last Day. That is better and more seemly in the end." [Al-Qur'an 4:59]


"Say: Obey Allah and obey the messenger. But if ye turn away, then (it is) for him (to do) only that wherewith he hath been charged, and for you (to do) only that wherewith ye have been charged. If ye obey him, ye will go aright. But the messenger hath no other charge than to convey (the message) plainly." [Al-Qur'an 24:54]


"Those are limits set by Allah: those who obey Allah and His Messenger will be admitted to Gardens with rivers flowing beneath, to abide therein (for ever) and that will be the supreme achievement." [Al-Qur'an 4:13]


"We sent no Messenger, but to be obeyed by Allâh's Leave. If they (hypocrites), when they had been unjust to themselves, had come to you (Muhammad SAW) and begged Allâh's Forgiveness, and the Messenger had begged forgiveness for them: indeed, they would have found Allâh All-Forgiving (One Who forgives and accepts repentance), Most Merciful." [Al-Qur'an 4:64]


"He will direct you to do righteous good deeds and will forgive you your sins. And whosoever obeys Allâh and His Messenger he has indeed achieved a great achievement" [Al-Qur'an 33:71]

 

[K.Venugopal]

You mentioned Bohra and Khoja muslims, (I knew you would) but you didnot mention Jamaat-e-islami .

Jamaat-e-Islami is an organization, not a religious tradition.

But anyways when I said that our community is distinct, I meant that we have a caliph. In Islam institution of caliphate is very important . Many muslims are trying to make one caliph of there own but according to muslim belief only God can appoint a caliph among the muslims.

Are you saying that Allah appoints your caliphs? Do you have any proof that Allah appointed your present caliph? Or is it only a belief that Allah does the appointments? (Like every Muslim every day at least 5 times says that he bears witness that Allah is the only God and Mohammad is His last prophet, when in actual fact no Muslim has never borne any such witness and what he means is that he believes that it is so.)

Now you asked " has the Quran itself sanctioned your right to interpret as you wish? " .

Firstly Muslims donot disagree on basic Quranic teachings, it is the finer details that are the cause of divide.

Though you say it, I think the mainstream Muslim opposition to the Ahamdiyyas is that you have gone against basic Islamic tenets. This would be borne out by the posts that are bound to be written by mainstream Muslims.

Secondly , Quran does not gives us the right to interpret as we wish. Quran is the book of God and only HE can tell how to interpret. Thats why He promised to send teachers(mujaddid) to us regularly, who will teach us Quran . Mohammad(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) told us that there will one mujaddid every hundred years and after 14 centuries the Promised Messiah will be sent.

I wonder why Allah, having said that the Quran is the final book for man, needs to keep sending teachers for its interpretation and decide, rather arbitrarily that the teachers would end in the 19th century just as he rather arbitrarily said the prophets would end in the 7th century.

You further said:"Different interpretations of a book of which there is and has ever been only one version and not a dot has been changed till date only indicates that doubts have arisen as to the import of at least some of its verses"

You must understand that Islam is a universal religion and can be adjusted in every time and situation. At the time when Islam came, the world was very primitive compared to today's world. BUT Allah knew that the world will change drastically over the years, so in Quran Allah defined His borders that are the basic guiding principles for Islam. These principles are broad enough to encompass all the people of every time. Islam gives us our options but the choice is ours to choose the best according to situation.
Now that choice is the interpretation that we make about Quran. And only God's true teacher can tell us the correct choice to make.

For a small example, In Islam if a woman get widowed, there is no compulsion upon her to get married or get burned or die with her husband. But if she want to get married she can but if she chooses to live alone she may. Likewise about the beard, it is optional. Hence , only the core teachings of Islam are to be strictly followed, other than that its upto the person's choice.

You say Islam is a universal religion and can be adjusted in every time and situation while at the same time saying that only God’s true teacher can tell us what the adjustments can be. I think the Ahmadiyyas, just like mainstream Muslims, are only interested in making their interpretation of the Quran the universal guide instead of making the followers mind universal. Only Sufi teachings appear to have the object of creating universal minds.

 

[Love4All]

Dear friend ILoveIslam , this thread is not meant for this debate. I will be most interested if you open a new thread for this. This thread is just for the introduction of our community.

 

[Love4All]

Hi Venugopal,

Firstly there are a lot of questions in your last post that need proper understanding of Islam. I would be happy to explain to you these concepts but this thread is not at all appropriate for this. I will soon open a new thread for that purpose.

Your question regarding the proof that Allah appoints our caliphs is really interesting, but i would explain that to you in my next post. At the moment i must answer your other question:
You said" I wonder why Allah, having said that the Quran is the final book for man, needs to keep sending teachers for its interpretation and decide, rather arbitrarily that the teachers would end in the 19th century just as he rather arbitrarily said the prophets would end in the 7th century."

Well where does Allah say that teachers would stop after 19th century or the messengers would stop in 7th century? Nowhere does Allah say that. The prophets , messengers and teachers come to show us the right path and whenever mankind needs a messenger , Allah sends one. BUT yes Quran is the final book but as I said it needs interpretation so for that God sends messengers. IF you ever have read Quran (in arabic) you would understand my point.

You further said"You say Islam is a universal religion and can be adjusted in every time and situation while at the same time saying that only God’s true teacher can tell us what the adjustments can be"

What do you think universal means? If you think universal means that everyone can change or alter the religion as they want then you are mistaken. Islam is Universal but only the true messenger can interpret and tell us what to do in that particular situation. Being universal means that everyone in every time can use this teaching. Let me give you an example: in Christianity the teaching is that if a person slaps your left cheek then you should go ahead and offer your right cheek for him to slap.
Now tell me is this teaching workable in every situation? Seriously think.
On the other hand Islam says that if a person hits you with a stone, it is your right to hit him with a stone, BUT donot transgress in your revenge, further Quran says that if you forgive that man and donot take your revenge or even better, do good for that man, you are among those people that God loves.

I will give you further examples if you want to, but then I will only be able to answer one question at a time.

In the last part of your thread, you start to judge us by saying "I think the Ahmadiyyas, just like mainstream Muslims, are only interested in making their interpretation of the Quran the universal guide instead of making the followers mind universal."

Well my friend I don't think you have the right to judge us this soon, you must at least read about us and Quran to make any kind of opinion about us.

Anyways, I don't quite get what you mean by universal mind? Please explain.

Hope this answers your questions.
Thanks

 

[neves]

"Surely, this brotherhood of yours is a single brotherhood, and I am your Lord and Cherisher. Therefore serve me and no other. But they broke their religion into sects among them; yet they will all return to Us." (21:92-93)

"And surely this brotherhood of your is a single brotherhood, and I am your Lord and Cherisher. Therefore fear Me and no other. But people have broken their religion into sects, each group rejoicing in that which is with them. But leave them in their confused ignorance for a time." (23:52-54)

"The believers are but a single Brotherhood. So make peace and reconciliation between your two contending brothers, and observe your duty to God, that you may receive mercy." (49:10-11)

"As for those who divide their religion and break up into sects, you have no part of them in the least. Their affair is with Allah; He will in the end tell them the truth of all that they did." (6:159)

"Turn back in repentance to Him, and fear Him. Establish regular prayers, and be not among those who ascribe partners to God -- those who split up their religion, and become mere sects, each party rejoicing in that which is with itself!" (30:31-32)

 

[K.Venugopal]

I don't quite get what you mean by universal mind? Please explain.

By ‘universal mind’ I mean minds capable of embracing the universe in all its drama rather than minds which seek to reduce the universe to the limitations of their mind.

 

[K.Venugopal]

Well where does Allah say that teachers would stop after 19th century or the messengers would stop in 7th century?

When you said, "Mohammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) told us that there will [be] one mujaddid every hundred years and after 14 centuries the Promised Messiah will be sent", did you not mean the Promised Messiah sent after 14 centuries is Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad? Did Mohammad talk of more Promised Messiahs to come? If mainstream Muslims hold that Mohammad is the last messenger, do Ahmadiyyas not hold that Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is the one and only promised messiah, with no more to come?

 

[Love4All]

If mainstream Muslims hold that Mohammad is the last messenger, do Ahmadiyyas not hold that Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is the one and only promised messiah, with no more to come?

As I said earlier God sends a prophet whenever mankind needs guidance. And if in future mankind will need guidance, God will not abandon the mankind. We can never even begin to think that Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is the Last prophet or anything.

PS. I never asked about you , what is your belief? which religion do you belong to??

 

[K.Venugopal]

As I said earlier God sends a prophet whenever mankind needs guidance. And if in future mankind will need guidance, God will not abandon the mankind. We can never even begin to think that Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is the Last prophet or anything.

PS. I never asked about you , what is your belief? which religion do you belong to??

That's quite fine. I am somewhat uncomfortable with full stops in spirituality.

I am a Hindu but I think by saying so I am not giving you a clue as to my religious or spiritual ideas, because it is said that whatever position one takes in Hinduism, the opposite position is also validated in Hinduism. Nevertheless, I seem to be one of those seemingly lunatic fellows who believe that I am God!

By the way, did Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad claim that he is an avataar of Vishnu?

Also, when you say, "We can never even begin to think that Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is the Last prophet or anything" is there an implied criticism of those who think of Mohammad as the last prophet?

 

[Love4All]

By the way, did Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad claim that he is an avataar of Vishnu?

If by Avatar, you mean a manifestation of God then NO. But if you mean prophet then Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (peace be upon him) claimed to be a prophet. We only believe in One God and not in Vishnu.
Although we firmly believe in Hindu Prophets, and respect them all the same. We believe that Rama Chandra and Krishna were indeed prophets of God, much like Moses, Jesus and Muhammad.

Also, when you say, "We can never even begin to think that Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is the Last prophet or anything" is there an implied criticism of those who think of Mohammad as the last prophet?

Well those who think Muhammad(peace be upon him) is the last prophet are in my opinion very unfortunate. Prophets are a gift of God and if God seizes to bestow upon us that gift then we must be really unfortunate. One can only hope that gifts from God never stop.

Quran deals with the issue very wisely and clearly, if you wish I can show you.

 

[K.Venugopal]

Well those who think Muhammad(peace be upon him) is the last prophet are in my opinion very unfortunate. Prophets are a gift of God and if God seizes to bestow upon us that gift then we must be really unfortunate. One can only hope that gifts from God never stop.

I entirely agree with you. But I also see why mainstream Muslims have declared Ahmadiyas as non-Muslims. They have understood the Quran as having said that there shall be no more prophets/messengers after Mohammad. You therefore would have an impossible time trying to convince them otherwise. Better consider yourself a new religion and both Ahmadiyas and mainstream Muslims can live without trampling upon each other.

 

[Love4All]

Better consider yourself a new religion and both Ahmadiyas and mainstream Muslims can live without trampling upon each other.

Yeah thanks for the advice,hehe. But the thing is we can't consider ourselves a new religion because of the fact that we believe in Muhammad (peace be upon him) and Quran and Hadith. We have the same teaching and everything. The difference is just that non-ahmadi muslims are still waiting for the messiah to come(as is the rest of the world), but we say he who had to come has come.

Let me tell you what Holy Prophet Muhammad said about the matter.
"Surely things will happen to my people as happened earlier to Israelites, they will resemble each other like one shoe in a pair resembles the other to the extent that if anyone among the Israelites has openly committed adultery to his mother there will be some who will do this in my Ummah as well, verily the Israelites were divided into 72 sections but my people will be divided into 73 sections, all of them will be in the fire except one." The companions asked, 'Who are they O Messenger of Allah,' Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "They are those who will be like me and my companions."

In this hadith there are quite a few things to be noted. Firstly, it mentions the resemblance of Muslim Ummah with the Israelites (i.e. Jews). In another hadith it is said that As among the Jews a prophet was raised in every century among Muslims a reformer will be raised and as among the Jews at the end of the chain of prophets a Messiah(Jesus) was raised a Messiah will be raised among Muslims.

For a list of muslim sects refer to this link.
73 Divisions in Islam

Also read this, you might find this interesting:
73 Divisions in Islam

The thing is that all 72 sects are untied against one sect that is us. The 72 sects have not accepted the Messiah (just like Jews).

So you see we can't abandon Islam, the Ahmadiyyat is built on the pillars of Islam. The name of the Promised Messiah was Mirza Ghulam Ahmad , Ghulam Ahmad means Slave of Ahmad, Ahmad is another name of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).