I have written previously about the Ahmadiya Muslims. On one occasion, I attended one of their speaking events at UC Irvine. They are an interesting bunch because they believe in a successor prophet to Muhammad, which has caused them to be essentially cast out by mainstream Muslims. In addition, this sect is severely persecuted in places like Pakistan
Below is an op-ed written by an Ahmadiya leader in the US, Mr Qasim Rashid in Time Magazine.
http://time.com/136380/extremism-is-a-concept-alien-to-islam-and-to-human-decency/
Before commenting, I would like to re-post what I reported on the aforementioned appearance by Ahmadiya Muslims at UC Irvine in 2013.
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com/2013/03/ahmadiya-muslim-event-at-uc-irvine.html
It seems to me that Ahmadi Muslims have not been involved in the countless acts of terrorism and violence that we see virtually every day around the world by more mainstream sects. That is commendable. Yet, my impression is that while they may, indeed, reject violence, they do adhere to sharia law, the Koran and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, all of which they defend to non-Muslims. It seems to be their position that all the horrors we see, all the hate, all the rejection of other faiths are by certain extremists only and that these "extremists" are not following true Islam. Yet, ask the Ahmadis uncomfortable questions about sharia, Muhammad and certain verses in the Koran and what you get is the same pablum you get from people like Imam Muzammil Siddiqi and all the other US-based religious leaders. "Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance". "The Koran is being misinterpreted." The Prophet preached love and forgiveness." In the above event, I had to drag it out of the main speaker in front of the audience that the Ahmadis were being persecuted by other Muslims.
We as Americans sincerely want to believe all that because it is part of our nature to respect religions of others. Unfortunately, it is increasingly difficult as the blood and the bodies continue to pile up. The more you learn, the worse it gets. Islam clearly does not respect other religions.
The question becomes: Are the terrorists, the people who carry out honor killings, those who murder apostates, and the imams who scream hatred toward infidels really just extremists? Or is it they who are following the true teachings of Islam? (Remember when we used to call them "fundamentalists"?)
That leaves the millions of "moderate peaceful" Muslims and the Ahmadis who don't engage in violence and hate, but just go quietly about their lives. What are they to do? Do they rise up and fight against the extremists who have "hijacked" Islam? Do they call for a Reformation to rid Islam of its violent teachings? The latter would be pretty hard to do without removing parts of the Koran and rejecting some of the Prophet's words and deeds. The Protestant Reformation was not aimed against Jesus Christ or the Bible, rather at the corruption of the Vatican.
So what are they to do? A few people have left Islam-either quietly or courageously as have Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Nonie Darwish and a few others. But they are a few who are willing to face rejection by their family and society and risk death. I guess if you are an Ahmadi, you criticize the "extremists" and insist that they do not represent the teachings of Islam.
And time marches on (small case t, of course).
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2 comments:
Ahmadi Muslims are to religions what the Platypus is to animals.
You couldn’t find a stranger religion. They were founded in 1889, but their founder died just 9 years later. Their motto is: “Love for all; hatred toward none.” (Which sounds like it was lifted from Abraham Lincoln’s 1865 Second Inaugural Address.) They represent a very small minority of Muslims, 8 million out of 1.4 billion. Most of them are in Pakistan and India. There are about 15,000 in the U.S. Their beliefs are smorgasbord of unconnected ideas synthetized into their own theology. They follow Muhammad and Jesus, but not the Jesus of the Bible. They have their own books of all the different prophets. They could be called the most non-Muslim of the Muslims.
In a free and open society the Ahmadis would be tolerated and appreciated for any contributions they might make to the society. That is not the way Islam sees any aberration to their belief system. Muslims don’t tolerate differences, they destroy them. There is a classic example of a “rival mosque” being built while Muhammad was on his jihad campaign against the Christian Byzantines in Tabuk in 629. The owners came to Muhammad while was returning, just an hour’s journey away from Medina and said, “We have built a mosque for the sick and needy and for nights of bad weather, and we should like you to come to us and pray for us there.” Muhammad said he was preoccupied at the time, but if Allah willed, he would pray for them in the mosque. Meanwhile, he ordered his comrades to go back and burn the mosque down. This event is recorded in the Quran, Surah 9:107: “And there are those who built a mosque from mischievous motives, to spread unbelief and disunite the faithful, in expectation of [Abu Amir an opponent to Muhammad] who made war on Allah and His Apostle. They swear that their intentions were good but Allah bears witness that they are lying. You shall not set foot in it. It is more fitting that you should pray in a mosque founded oh piety from the very first.”
Also, when Muhammad was on his deathbed, he ordered, “Let not two religions be let in the Arabian peninsula.” Islam’s intolerance was from the very beginning. Why an Ahmadi would even try to defend the real Islam as a religion of peace is baffling.
Every religion's sacred texts have some nasty stuff in it. You have to have some judgment about applying it all, in order to have any faith at all.
(I note however that ha-Giladi (Jeptha) did NOT burn his daughter on the altar several centuries after God told Abraham not to sacrifice Isaac... that was a mistranslation when the Greek Septuagint was prepared.)
Bottom line, I don't know why why the Ahmadi should care what Fousesquawk thinks of the, or why I should be particularly concerned with what they believe. They are no threat to me.
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