The Ahmadiyyah Movement: Not so moderate

This is a guest post by Raziq

Followers of the Ahmadiyya movement (known as Ahmadis) are often victims of religious bigotry. They have long been popular targets of religious extremists and have suffered a great deal, especially in Pakistan where they have been continuously persecuted.  Like most commentators on this site I utterly deplore such actions and I defend the right of Ahmadis to freedom of religion.

I personally spent a number of years studying Ahmadi literature, meeting their leaders and discussing their beliefs.  In this article I intend to explain their beliefs, their attitudes towards other faiths and their political views.

The Founder

Posted in Activism, Antisemitism, Freedom of Religion, Human Rights, Israel/Palestine, Sectarianism | Leave a comment

Hate Leaflets calling for the murder of Ahmadi Muslims

Alarming news from Kingston, Surrey:

"Kill a Qadiyyani and doors to heaven will be open for you"

A police investigation was launched last month, after police saw leaflets being handed out calling on Muslims to murder Qadiyanis, a derogatory term for Ahmadiyya Muslims, who are an evangelical sect of Islam.

It is believed that the literature is linked to a terrorist attack in May, in which 92 worshippers were murdered by Taliban militants in Pakistan, where the government officially regards Ahmadiyya Islam as blasphemy.

Having made no arrests in connection with the incident, Kingston police are appealing who may have seen the people handing out inflammatory literature outside the Jane Norman store in Clarence Street.

A teenage Ahmadiyya girl, who did not want to be named, said she was “shaken and stirred” after being handed a leaflet written in Urdu saying “Kill a Qadiyyani and doors to heaven will be open for you”.

Posted in Freedom of Religion, Islamism | 20 Comments

EDL Supporters – Friends of Racists and Extremists

Video Update:

We often hear that the EDL protest the growth of political Islamism and extremism exclusively and non-violently. This man from the EDL might have reason to differ:

An injured English Defence League protester lies on the ground being treated by police medics after being hit by a rock thrown by another English Defence League protester

Posted in Anti Fascism, Anti Muslim bigotry, Racism | 1 Comment

Love in a Grey Area

Homosexuality is a crime in Muslim Bangladesh. But it’s not a sin, according to Suleman, a gay imam who spoke to Delwar Hussain. The following is an excerpt from Delwar’s article.

****

Suleman has always known that he was attracted to men. He would wear his mother’s saris when she was out of the house and put on his sister’s make-up in the belief that this is what men found appealing. Suleman also knew that he wanted to be a religious leader, an imam. He joined a madrassa (an Islamic religious school) where he began rigorous training. Small in stature with an imposing black beard, he is dressed in a white kurta pyjama with a matching white mosque hat, the ubiquitous uniform for the men of Allah. He is predisposed to following everything up with religious references.

Posted in Sexuality | 4 Comments

Does Park51 Really Matter?

This is a cross-post by Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens


For the past week I have been in New York, and on Tuesday took the afternoon to visit Ground Zero and Park51, the site of the Cordoba Initiative’s proposed Islamic centre.

Front of the Park51 Site

As I pressed the timer on my watch so as to check how long it took to walk from the former World Trade Centre to the Cordoba site, it dawned on me how absurd this whole issue really is; what distance would be appropriate? Should there be some sort of strictly enforced ‘don’t offend me’ radius around Ground Zero? The next day, the New York Times reported that Mayor Bloomberg made exactly this point:

Mr. Bloomberg…said he understood the impulse to find a different location, in the hope of ending the controversy.

“But it won’t,” the mayor said, “The question will then become, ‘how big should the ‘no-mosque zone’ around the World Trade Center be?’”

Posted in Your View | 26 Comments

Irshad Manji’s Questions for Imam Rauf

Irshad Manji attempts to re-centre the raw, emotional polarised sentimentalism of Park51 here. The underlying point is that offence or sensitivity is not a basis for what can or cannot be built nor for criticising aspects of religion or religious customs.

The Park51 debate has now spilled over into the doomed territory of visceral offence taking. The opportunity to have this debate on issues such as the American Constitution’s provisions for freedom of religion and Islam’s obligation to universal principles in the USA may have been lost for good. Nevertheless Manji takes a crack at articulating a set of questions and demands expected of Imam Rauf should Park51 ever get built.

But for all the restless offense I feel, I step back and force myself to think. As I wrestle with the issues, I realize that an opportunity exists for something more constructive than anger.

Posted in Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Religion | 5 Comments

Why are most of the victims of terrorists Pakistani?

This is an excerpt from an article by Amir Mir, from OutlookIndia, which asks the question: ‘Just who is not a kaafir’?


Family members of victims of the bomb attack at Lahore’s Data Ganj shrine grieve over their loss

The broad Sunni-Shia division does not explain all of it

  • Most Sunnis adhere to the Hanafi school of jurisprudence. Only 5 per cent of the country’s population belongs to the Ahle Hadith sect or Wahabis.
  • The Sunnis are subdivided into the Barelvi and Deobandi schools of thought
  • The Deobandis and Wahabis consider the Barelvis as kafir, because they visit the shrines of saints, offer prayers, believe music, poetry and dance can lead to god
  • Barelvis constitute 60 per cent of the population. Deobandis and Wahabis together account for 20 per cent
  • Another 15 per cent are Shias, again considered kafir and subjected to repeated attacks
Posted in Islamism, Sectarianism | 1 Comment

Islamist Idol

Khurram Sher, 28, has an interesting CV. He graduated from McGill University medical school in 2005. Practised at the Thomas Elgin General Hospital in the Department of Anatomical Pathology in Ontario, Canada. In 2006, he was involved in the relief efforts after an earthquake in Kashmir.

Earlier this month he was one of three men arrested in Ontario, Canada:

Three Canadians arrested in an alleged terrorist conspiracy had bomb parts and plans and posed a “real and serious threat”, Canadian police have said.

The trio, arrested this week, were charged with supporting terrorism.

Hiva Alizadeh and Misbahuddin Ahmed were jailed following a court appearance on Thursday.

In 2008, Khurram took part in the auditions for Canadian Idol, where he performed the Avril Lavigne song, ‘Complicated’:

As Khurram told the judges at Canadian Idol, he is from Pakistan and enjoys acting, music and hockey.

Posted in Islamism | 5 Comments

“New Caliphate” Nonsense

This is cross-post by M.J Akbar

New Delhi, India – “Muslims want to revive the Caliphate,” I hear pundits say. The idea is just preposterous. The Caliphate is a pre-nation state concept, relevant only to the Age of Empire. The Caliphate was defeated by the British in 1918. It was buried by the Turks in 1924.

Upon first glance, it seems the Caliphate had a fabulous run from 632 to 1918. However, look again: Only for a very short while during these 1300 years was there a single Caliph to which all Muslim political formations gave allegiance. Usually, there were multiple Muslim communities. The Ummayads in Spain never recognized the Abbasids in Baghdad; and the Mughals in India certainly did not pay obeisance to the Sublime Porte of their Turkish kinsmen in Istanbul. Then Mustafa Kemal Ghazi packed off the last Ottoman Caliph with 2000 pounds and a one-way ticket to Europe. He sealed the institution that had long outlived its utility.

Posted in International Affairs, Islamism | 2 Comments

Filling in the blanks in the IFE

Last week Ted Jeory published a transcript of his interview from last year with Mohammed Habibur Rahman, when Rahman was then the president of the Islamic Forum Europe (IFE). Worth reading in full, if you get a chance. Here is an excerpt:

Ted Jeory: Well, you’re president…who else is actually on the management structure?
Habibur Rahman: Who else? Well, it would be good for us to sit and talk. Are you just looking for names, we’ve got about 20 people who are managing the organisation
Ted Jeory: The other name that’s always mentioned is [Tower Hamlets council children's services officer] Hira Islam.
Habibur Rahman: Hira? You see, I think someone is trying to push an agenda with you.
Ted Jeory: Well, that might well be the case, but that’s why I’m coming to you to talk to you about it.
Habibur Rahman: Hira Islam is part of IFE, of course he is, but he is also very involved with the Labour party. He’s a member of the Labour party, so he knows a lot of people and people say that because he is working with us, people probably think that he is trying to push an agenda on our behalf.

Posted in Islamism | 2 Comments