The shahadah – the testimony of faith in Islam – states that Allah is (the only) God and that Muhammad is His Messenger. This is one of the five foundational pillars of Islam, along with fasting the month of Ramadan, undertaking the holy pilgrimage (hajj), giving Zakat (obligatory charity) and offering salat (daily prayers).

By declaring this and accepting the Qur’an as the message of God given through Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), we acknowledge the six articles of faith. We declare that:

• Allah as the One and Only God
• The angels
• Allah’s books (e.g. Qur’an)
• Allah’s prophets (e.g. Muhammad (pbuh))
• The Day of Judgement
• The unknown and pre-destiny

If you believe in these articles then you are Muslim. But there is a large group of Muslims -around 25,000 here in the UK – that are predominantly shunned, ignored, discriminated against and denied the right to be recognised as Muslims. Who? The Ahmadiyya Muslim community.

There is no God but Allah (the One God) and Muhammad (pbuh) is His Messenger

Love for all, acceptance by none

Ahmadi Muslims are known for their motto: Love for all, hatred for none and are an incredibly peaceful group dedicated to interfaith and charity work. However, they are shunned by the mainstream Muslim community as many scholars have declared them to be “non-Muslim”.

Now I’m no scholar but I know the fundamentals of Islam and I keep an open mind. The myth that declares Ahmadi Muslims as non-Muslim is based on the wrongful assumption that they believe that their caliph is a prophet, when Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is declared as the Seal of the Prophets in the Holy Qur’an.

Well I have spoken to Ahmadi Muslims and would like to clarify:

• They do believe that Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is the Final Messenger/Prophet
• They do not believe that their caliph is a Prophet but instead the Mahdi/Messiah (redeemer) who has come to reform Islam

In any case, they believe in the shahadah and the six pillars of faith and regardless of the above: they do not deserve to be shunned and excluded.

From isolation to persecution

I’ve spent time in many interfaith circles and often witnessed great diversity within Christian and Jewish circles. Whilst there is great diversity in Islam, such diversity is not often recognised or “tolerated”.

The dangers of excluding an entire group of Muslims are far-reaching. Firstly, this give a negative perception to outsiders and whilst we’re not here to simply please others, there is a gross contradiction between propagating interfaith relations when there is a lack of intrafaith unity within the Muslim community itself.

The more worrying issues however are two-fold. Firstly, they highlight a tendency to propagate a discourse around a singular “true Islam” without recognition or room for diversity of belief. This in itself is dangerous and can and does lead to extremism. It mirrors those who monopolise a faith according to one’s own beliefs despite evidence or beliefs stating otherwise.

Secondly, this actively promotes the exclusion and “othering” of Ahmadi Muslims. “Othering” leads to violence and the tragic murder of Asad Shah in Glasgow in 2016 exemplifies this. This was an explicitly religiously motivated attack towards an Ahmadi Muslim by a Sunni Muslim. For this to happen here in the UK is quite frankly terrifying. Please let us not slide into the murky reality of normalised religiously aggravated discrimination and the violation of human rights in countries such as Pakistan – a nation with the worst example government sanctioned persecution of the Ahmadiyya community.

In Pakistan, Ahmadi Muslims are expressly and legally forbidden from calling themselves Muslims. If an Ahmadi Muslim makes the azan (gives the call to prayer), recites from the Qur’an in public or greets people with Assalam aleykum and is found guilty, then could not only face three years in prison but more shockingly also the death penalty according to current blasphemy laws. Thankfully no such executions have yet taken place.

Here in the UK, I have spoken to Ahmadi Muslims who have recounted the abuse that their fellow brothers face in Pakistan and it is here in the UK and USA that many are taking refuge and bringing up new generations in peace and safety. For such intolerance and quite frankly bigotry to spill over onto British soil is heartbreaking. Only recently a historic Ahmadi mosque was desecrated by a mob in Pakistan, not that long after an Ahmadi billboard here in the UK was removed after a backlash from non-Ahmadi Muslims. Yet the lack of mainstream coverage of the “controversy” in the media was shocking. No one wanted to talk about the double standards at play here. Freedom of belief and speech is for all, yet the reactions received seem to show a different concept of freedom – a selective right for only “approved minorities”.

Here we can see that “othering” and discrimination leads to the abuse of human rights including the right to free speech, freedom of religious practice and even the right to life. Whilst no doubt, 99% of British Muslims from outside of the Ahmadiyya community wish no harm and simply disagree with Ahmadi teachings, the community as a whole still refuses to acknowledge that they are Muslim. No one can force belief or a certain teaching on another person but what harm is there in “agreeing to disagree”? Ahmadi Muslims pray daily to Allah and follow the Qur’an. They are Muslims, whether quite frankly everyone else likes it or not.

Furthermore, whether they are “Muslim” or not is no one’s business but Allah’s. So I ask the non-Ahmadi Muslim community (to which I belong): when will this “bogeyman” be called out for what it is? When will “the Ummah” – billions of Muslims across the world in fact – open their eyes and acknowledge that this bogeyman is in fact an invented “otherised” demon reflective of our own community and the intolerance, simmering hatred and indifference within?

So, let’s put this bogeyman to bed and instead welcome our brothers and sisters, showing love for all hatred for none – without exception.

– Written by Elizabeth Fear, Founder of Voice of Salam

In 2018 in modern day Britain, there are religious leaders who think that believers of their faith are so weak that different sects may ‘affect’ believers in their faith. Forget the fact that social media, access to the Internet, Daesh, unemployment and reduced life chances may affect the faith of the congregation, today, they are speaking about the ‘perils’ of a community that are so small and who feel so embattled, that such comments should concern us. 

Who are they speaking of? Well, here is Imam Muhammad Yasir Ayub who is commenting about an open day which was held by the local Ahmadi community in Nottingham. Such is the concern around an open day held by a peaceful local community (which regards themselves as Muslim), that it led to this outburst by this Imam who has preached in several mosques and in places like Manchester.

Here are his comments on the 4th of February and made on this social media page: 

Calling another community group ‘Kafir’ in today’s context and putting their address up online, is potentially putting this community at risk. and is unacceptable. It also raises the issue about spiritual guidance and how easily it can be turned to attach to the political and social views of an individual, something that we have seen over history. What this has to do with Islam, can also be questioned, when Islam repeatedly asks for patience, introspection and for moderation. This is not to detract from other verses in scriptural texts, that within historical context were made at a time of instability that affected the first Muslims. So, in other words, since there is no physical threat to Muslims as a whole, why are such statements being made and which add to community tensions and fractures and being made by someone with a pastoral and spiritual responsibility. We stress the responsibility since turning people against another set of people is, we believe, hardly responsible.

We know that the vast majority of Imams in the UK may disagree with the Ahmadi movement. That is their right to do so and they disagree by listening, through dialogue and by ensuring that they do not play a role in inflaming tensions. However, there are some Imams who believe that if someone calls themselves a Muslim, then they should be treated as such. As said before, Ahmadis are a peaceful, well integrated and deeply introspective community. Not one of their community have been involved in extremism or terrorism and they work to raise large amounts of finance for charity work. They are a community who are an asset to our country who do not deserve such outbursts made in public.

On Sunday, the 6^th of January, 2013, Faith Matters organized its third interfaith training workshop as part of their Project Musawaat (Equality) which aims to promote freedom of religion and belief in Pakistan and is focussed on working with Christian and Muslim communities in the Punjab region.

75 participants from 18 grass-roots level youth based organizations in Pakistan participated in this event. Concepts of conflict resolution, interfaith dialogue, citizenship and identity were discussed in the session and participants were asked to explore practical ways that they could enhance and strengthen community engagement in order to promote interfaith harmony in Pakistan.

The following youth organizations and educational institutions participated in the session.

1. Society for Human Advancement and Just Reforms (SHAJR)

2. Ashiana Development Organization

3. Oasis Society of Fine Arts (OSFA)

4. Minhaj-ul-Quran

5. Catholic Youth Ministry Lahore (CYML)

6. Youth Advocacy Network (YAN)

7. Excellence College of Education, Gujranwala

8. Sangat Development Foundation

9. Islamia college of girls, Gujranwala

10. Chishtia High School, Gujranwala

11. Chaoon

12. Sath

13. Active Advocacy Network (AAN)

14. Chanan foundation

15. Al-Fajar

16. Lok Vehar, Faisalabad

17. Speak Up

Bunyad Foundation

Faith Matters is working in areas in Pakistan where Christian communities are densely populated and where tensions have been observed in the past. Such areas include Faisalabad , Gujranwala and Multan in Pakistan.