AHMADIS IN NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR MINORITIES?

In the name of God (who is) the beneficent (and) the merciful

Peace be upon our Master Muhammad and his purified progeny

Recently, the government of Pakistan made a decision that has bewildered many Pakistanis and has amassed great deal of discomfort from the ultraconservative sector of our citizens. The government of Prime Minister Imran Khan has allowed Ahmadis to join the national commission for minorities. Before I delve into why this action has bothered the far-right religious groups in Pakistan, let me explain the reasons why other Muslim sects don't consider Ahmadis to be Muslims.

Who are Ahmadis?

By the end of 19th century, a Sunni Muslim religious scholar from Punjab (Hindustan) claimed to be the Promised Messiah and started gathering supporters. His name was Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and his name was linked with his hometown Qadian. Therefore, his followers were termed as Ahmadis or Qadianis. Mirza believed that he was the Mahdi foretold by Prophet Muhammad and also the Second Coming of Jesus Christ also promised by Allah's Apostle.

Muslims believe that Muhammad - peace and blessings be upon him and his descendants - was the final messenger (rasul) of God on earth and, after him, no new prophet (nabi) or rasul will show up. This is a unified position of all Muslim sects and anyone who has ever claimed the office of nubuwwah and risalah has been dealt with harshly Muslims. Qur'an states clearly that Muhammad was the Seal of the Prophets.

Muhammad is not the father of (any) one of your men but (he is) the messenger of God and the seal of the prophets. And ever is God, of all things, knowing.

(Q. 33:40)

Multiple reports narrated by the Prophet's close friends from him signify that there would be no prophet or messenger after him. The Prophet categorically stated that the office of nubuwwah had been closed forever. No person born after Muhammad could attain the status of risalah. Let me quote some narrations from Sahih Bukhari, the most reliable book in Sunni Islam after Quran itself.

Will you not be pleased that you will be to me like Aaron to Moses? But there will be no prophet after me.

(Sahih Bukhari, Book #64, Hadith #438)

And, indeed, there shall be thirty impostors in my ummah. Each of them (will be) claiming that he is a prophet. And I am the last of the prophets; there is no prophet after me.

(Sahih Bukhari, Book #33, Hadith #62)

The Israelis used to be ruled and guided by prophets. Whenever a prophet died, another would take over his place. There will be no prophet after me but there will be caliphs who will increase in number.

(Sahih Bukhari, Book #60, Hadith #122)

The Arabic phrase la nabiya b'adi (no prophet after me) is agreed upon by all Muslims. Muslims even fought those who claimed nubuwwah after Muhammad right after the Prophet's demise. By the end of his lifetime, many Arabs have claimed risalah for themselves.

The most powerful of these false prophets was an old-timer named Maslamah who was nicknamed scornfully by Muslims as Musaylamah (lesser Maslamah). He even had the audacity to invite the Prophet to accept his mission and share his reign (i.e. the Arab Empire) with him. After the death of Muhammad, Caliph Abu Bakr sent an army to counter the military advances of the false prophet. In the Battle of Yamamah, Musaylamah was killed by the same guy (Wahshi ibn Harb) who had previously killed the Prophet's own dear uncle in the Battle of Uhud. Therefore, fighting false prophets is the sunnah of the sahabah of Allah's Apostle.

No doubt, had Mirza Ghulam Ahmad grown in power, Indian Muslims would've fought him too to weaken his strength. I don't wish to insult any religious personality here but I do believe that Mirza's attempt to combine Mahdi and Jesus in a single personality was absurd, outrageous and contrary to the proven ahadith. Mahdi will be from the Prophet's family while Jesus is a Hebrew.

Persecution of Ahmadis

The beliefs of Mirza enraged other Muslims and they declared him to be a non-Muslim because a Muslim gets excommunicated if he claims to be a prophet/messenger. Because Mirza claimed to be Jesus and a dhilli nabi (shadow prophet) after Muhammad, he was termed as a murtad (apostate), kafir (infidel) and nabi e kadhib (false prophet). After the partition of British India, many Muslim scholars from multiple factions of Islam campaigned to officially declare Ahmadis as non-Muslims. The campaign began in '50s and concluded in 1974 CE when Bhutto government officially made them infidels excommunicates from Islam in Pakistan. They were banned from calling themselves muslim or musalman, use Islamic slogans or emblems, denote their temples as mosques or openly practice Islam. 

There was an incident of an Ahmadi book-seller who was tried for blasphemy in our courts only because he used to sell Ahmadi literature at his shop. He's now in United States and even had an audience with Donald Trump where he, aided by Salman Taseer's son, communicated the story of his miseries to the President. It's believed that the attacks on minorities, the constant cries of Shia Kafir! by anti-Iranian militant organizations, forced marriages of Hindu girls, blasphemy charges against non-Muslims and the state-organized oppression of the Ahmadiyah community are some factors why Pakistan came so be blacklisted by FATF.

Yeah, I know, my liberal friends. Sounds like some story of barbarians living in the Middle Ages. Protestants being killed for there heresy by the Catholics. Moors being banished from Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella. African-Americans being segregated and stopped from acting white by other Americans. But, alas, this is what happened in Pakistan less than 50 years ago! And, also, they can't even have the word Muslim written on their gravestone after they've died. Dr. Salam - the first Pakistani to receive a Nobel Prize and also the also Pakistani to get one in physics - was an Ahmadi. He left the country in 1974 CE, sickened at what he perceived to be state-sponsored persecution of his community.

What is national commission for minorities?

The act was passed in 2015 CE and you read it here if you want. It was supposed to forward inter-faith harmony among Pakistani citizens, subdue religious extremism and help minorities keep their identities intact in our country. The commission was supposed to work to (i) evaluate the progress of minorities; (ii) safeguard their interests; (iii) look into complaints regarding deprivation of their rights; (iv) study about why minorities are discriminated against; (v) conduct research on socio-economic and educational development of minorities; and (vi) make periodical reports to the federal government regarding the well-being of minorities and any difficulties faced by them.

The initial body of the commission included four Muslims, two Christians, two Hindus, one Zoroastrian and one Sikh. In 2020 CE, this commission was planned to be reorganized. It is reported that the Prime Minister Khan was advised by some people to include Ahmadis in the said commission too. I think it is quite a just, sane and realistic measure to allow Ahmadis to be a part of our government because, after all, they are the ones who are actually facing discrimination in Pakistan. Therefore, it was decided that they will be permitted to enter the national commission for minorities on Wednesday.

But this news wasn't received whole-heartily by the religious fundamentalists of Pakistan. These fundamentalists apparently don't even want to let Ahmadis call themselves minorities as well. They don't like them as Muslims; they don't like them as non-Muslims. They have no clear stance regarding their true demands. My guess would be they just want to see a genocide of Ahmadis. Because the religious zealots think all Ahmadis are murtad (apostates) and wajib ul qatl (obligatory to be executed). They wish to offer them Islam (which actually means conversion from Ahmadi faith) or banishment from Pakistan or a mass massacre.

On Twitter, three to four hashtags against Ahmadis became viral in one day with people declaring that Ahmadis are traitors to Pakistan and could never be allowed to identify themselves as minorities unless they declare they're non-Muslims. This is the only demand these savages can actually form into words instead of roars and grunts i.e. Admit you're not Muslims and only then you can have same rights as minorities.

Appeal to justice

There was a very suitable analysis of the arguments uttered by far-right Muslims by a person named Dr. Muhammad Mushtaq from the International Islamic University (Islamabad). I admired his views so much that I want to translate them to English and reword into my own language. You can find his actual wordings here.

I believe that we don't need to go to the two extremities in the case of Ahmadis. One extremity is to actually consider them Muslims. The other extremity is to deny them basic human rights. Islam teaches us the middle path. People usually think with jazbat instead of mahsusat. They employ their feelings of rape and mutiny in the matters of shari'ah. Shari'ah of God doesn't care about your feelings. It is an ironclad collection of laws and principles, rules and regulations, which you have to submit to. Quran tells Muslims to embark for jihad even if they find it boring. God doesn't make Hid decisions based on your desires. You can hate Ahmadis all you want. Fine! But scholars such as Engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza and Dr. Muhammad Mushtaq Ahmad will always express the actual shari'i ruling on Ahmadis. 

They want to extinguish the light of Allah with their mouths, but Allah will perfect His light, although the disbelievers dislike it.

(Q. 61:8)

10 points of Dr. Mushtaq

These are the 10 points stated and explained by Dr. Mushtaq. May God bless him for his rational analysis of this situation and his ability to speak the truth regarding an actual, sensitive and important shari'i matter.

1st point:

After 2013 Peshawar Church bombings, the Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered to create such a commission in order to make sure minorities were always secured, their rights maintained and their identities kept intact.

In September 2013 CE, the All Saints' Church in Peshawar (Pakistan) was twice attacked by Jundallah's suicide bombers who caused the death of 127 people. Jundallah (Group of God) is a Taliban-affiliated terrorist group that operates in the northwestern part of Pakistan. They belong to the Deobandi maslak and carried out these explosions because they viewed Christians as enemies of Islam. Did you compare these attacks with what Pakistani Muslims think of Ahmadis? This is the same hatred that caused terrorists to view Christians as foes of God. This ideology that makes you see normal people as some sort of devils working against your faith, is toxic. This ideology is not represented by Islam.

2nd point:

Minorities refer to any faith system that is not Islam.

I am bewildered when I see people denying the status of Ahmadi religion as a separate belief system. These anti-Ahmadi extremists believe that Ahmadi campaign is not a religion but a fitnah. Dudes! This is exactly what Islamophobs call Islam. They claim that Islam isn't a religion but a cult. Does this mean Europeans and Americans should demote Islam from church status? Ahmadis are non-Muslims. This is as simple as that. You think an Ahmadi is a mulhad, a murtad, a zindiq, a shaytan or whatever you want. But this is how you're describing your feelings. Islam doesn't make decisions based on feelings. Ahmadis are, terminologically speaking, non-Muslims. Anyone who is not a Muslim is a minority. That makes Ahmadis a minority. You can hate them all you want but shari'ah makes them a non-Muslim minority or the one you call dhimmis.

3rd point:

If someone thinks Ahmadis are apostates or atheists, that is just a personal opinion that can be true or false. According to the Pakistani law, they are non-Muslims and fall completely into the category of minorities.

As I said, the law doesn't care about your personal views regarding a community. Legally, Ahmadis are non-Muslims. All non-Muslims are minorities. National commission is being revived for the sake of minorities. There is not one valid reason why you should not celebrate the fact that Ahmadis just admitted into a commission made for non-Muslims.

4th point:

The first generation of Ahmadis reverted from Islam and became legally apostate. But the next generations aren't apostates because a non-Muslim who is born outside the pale of Islam isn't a revert. Similarly, if a Jew, Christian, Hindu or Sikhs converts to Ahmadi faith, he doesn't become an apostate. But if a Muslim leaves Islam and embraces Ahmadi belief system, he becomes legally an apostate. But, in the Pakistani penal code, an apostate can only be punished if he commits blasphemy. But, according to a law made by the British, one can seek for divorce if the spouse becomes a non-Muslim.

Calling present-day Ahmadis apostates is mere stupidity and nothing else. These religious nutcases only use the terminology of irtadad to spread hatred against Ahmadis. These terms of shari'ah are sacred and shouldn't be used in vain or to persecute some community you hate. Ahmadis are non-Muslims and they deserve all the rights some other dhimmi deserves in an Islamic state.

5th point:

The inclusion of Ahmadis in the commission is an inevitable result of them being non-Muslims. I can't understand why people are angry about it?

Exactly my point! They are non-Muslims and the commission was made to save non-Muslims from persecution. I can't understand why Muslims hate Jews and Christians so much who don't even believe in Prophet Muahmmad. Ahmadis believe in him and also consider Quran to be a sacred scripture. They deserve your respect more than the People of the Scripture. In fact, if I am allowed to quote Engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza, Ahmadis are Ahlul Kitab (People of the Scripture). There's no denying that.

6th point:

If you are claiming that they are traitors because they don't consider themselves to be non-Muslims as per our constitution, this is just an emotional outburst of yours. If you think they have rebelled against our constitution, sue them for the violation of Article #6. Musharraf is a rebel, as per the court's order, and not Ahmadis. When they refuse to call them non-Muslims, they are only violating one article of our constitution. If they publicly declare themselves as Muslims or use Islamic terminologies, you can always sue them for that. Its punishment is fine and jail time.

How can you expect Ahmadis to call themselves non-Muslims? How can you possibly, humanly and rationally force an entire community not to call them Muslims? How is that even fair? We believe that Ahmadis are non-Muslims but Ahmadis believe they are Muslims. How is that not an act of terrorism if we start forcing our perspective of them on them? How is that not an act of grave injustice and violation of basic human rights if we force them to believe what we believe them to be? How would you like if Saudi government declares all non-Wahhabis to be non-Muslims and you have sign an affidavit that you are a kafir if you wish to enter Saudi Arabia? If Ahmadis call themselves Muslims, let them do so. They won't become Muslims just by calling themselves Muslims.

7th point:

If Ahmadis are actually and publicly declaring themselves to be Muslims, why would they even enter this commission? If they enter this commission, it will be a verification of their status in Pakistan as non-Muslims.

8th point:

If you are afraid that they will secure their religious identity after joining the commission, that they can only do as a non-Muslim community once they join the commission. Moreover, they will be free to practice their rituals after joining the commission but as a community of non-Muslims. They will still be banned from demonstrating their ideology as Islam or their congregation as Muslim. They will still be prosecuted for representing themselves as Muslims.

9th point:

If you are afraid that they will try to remove these laws against them after that, a larger bench of the Supreme Court under Zuhayruddin has stated that these laws aren't against religious freedom. So, if they try to represent themselves as Muslims after that, it will be deemed a fraud. We all will try our best to stop them from changing these laws against them.

10th point:

All these arguments of yours are hypothetical unless Ahmadis actually accept the offer to enter the commission. If they do so, they will automatically declare themselves as non-Muslims. Therefore, I don't see any reason to become offended.

I mean if Ahmadis think they are Muslims but we call them traitors because we consider them non-Muslims, that will be the end of other Islamic sects in Pakistan too. Don't Barelwi Muslims believe Deobandi Muslims are kuffar? Don't Deobandi Muslims call Wahhabi Muslims infidels? Don't they all call Shiite Muslims heathens? If Ahmadis don't declare themselves to be Muslims, it's their own problems. Let them be their personal matter. We just can't force a community to change its identity. Period.

Ahmadis: Before and after?

There is a chart that people are sharing on the internet which shows how this inclusion in the commission will change the position held by Ahmadis in Pakistan. Replying in the comment section (after the page admin had to turn off comments because - instead of trying to understand these legal matters - people were cursing and abusing the author), Dr. Mushtaq gave a brief analysis on the chart as well.

Dr. Mushtaq has reviewed all five points spoken about in this measly chart. I will not go into much details or commentary. I would just like to explain them quickly.

1) Ahmadis aren't allowed to build their own temples but, after entering the commission, they will be able to do so. This is utterly rubbish because Ahmadis can still build their places of worship but they are not allowed to call them mosques. 

2) Ahmadis are not allowed to cry adhan but, once they join the commission, they will be able to do so. This is inaccurate as well as they can't still name their cry for prayers adhan. If they call it adhan, they will prosecuted for misguiding Muslims.

3) Ahmadis will be given freedom to propagate their ideology after being a part of the commission. This is yet another misconception. All minorities in Pakistan are allowed only to preach their religion among their children and people. They are even allowed to win converts among other non-Islamic religions. But they are forbidden to make a Muslim revert from his faith. Thus, Ahmadis will still be obliged not to gain proselytes from Muslims. If a Muslim leaves his faith, he will be termed an apostate. You can talk about talk about introducing legal punishment for apostates in Pakistan. But, currently, leaving Islam isn't a crime in Pakistan.

4) Ahmadis will be given permission to contest in elections if they join this commission. This is also totally wrong. Right now, Ahmadis are allowed to contest in elections but only as non-Muslims. They can run for public office or caste their votes but as non-Muslims.

5) Ahmadis will begin praying like Muslims after they join this commission. Ahmadis are still barred from calling their acts of worship salat or namaz. Joining the commission doesn't alter this fact.

Conclusion

I hope to God that we Muslims start using their reason and stop judging other people on their religious beliefs. While we face discrimination in India, China and now in the West, it doesn't seem sensible to persecute a religious community in Pakistan. Islam is a faith of rationality, civility and humanity. Muslims need to bring their own Renaissance. Just like Europeans resolved the disputes between their many sects, we also need to make peace with our Muslim brothers and Ahmadi non-Muslims. We are all Pakistanis and we all have to make our own graves.