What would you say, if you found out that a preacher who promoted anti-Ahmadi hate in Pakistan, just walked into our country? Worse still, what if you found out that he was advocating violence against the buildings of a minority group in his country, simply because of their identity?

What would you then say if you found out that he had been a key-note speaker at an event in Luton this year? Furthermore, what if you found out that there was no challenge to him entering the United Kingdom? How safe would you feel?

In fact, just for good measure, the preacher in question posed and took some pictures for posterity as he exited the country and onwards to Pakistan.

Well, meet Khadim Hussain Khurshid, who was invited from Pakistan to speak at a mosque in Luton on the 5th of August 2018. So pleased was he to be invited that he listed the invitation on his ‘official’ Facebook page.

You see, a day or two before the horrendous May 2018 attack on the Ahmadi mosque in Sialkot, Khurshid had been whipping up the congregation with anti-Ahmadi rhetoric.

So let us see what he said in his video that we have included below. Translated, the text demonstrates religious extremism and violence from the mouth of this preacher:

Khadim Hussain Khurshid: “If that museum is named after that shameless man (Mirza Ghulam Ahmad  – the spiritual head of the Ahmadi movement), so be warned DPO (Divisional Police Officers), we will be heading to your office.

“Whoever loves that Mirza keeps your hands down. Those who have any shame must go out and warn the administration that if they don’t lock down that (Ahmaddiya) building until next Friday, we will see them. And Khadim Hussain will be first one to bring it down.

“If you don’t like what I am saying, ask your mothers what was wrong with your birth. This is a matter of the honour of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and thousands like me could be sacrificed for that.”

So, let us be clear, would you let someone who was promoting open sectarian hatred into our country?

Khurshid was clearly promoting violence against Ahmadi buildings in May 2018. Within days, the Ahmadi mosque in Sialkot was literally torn down, brick by brick. His words and highly divisive and inflammatory remarks may have been amplified by others who were also involved in stirring up local congregations. However, the question is this: has our Government got oversight of the activities of such individuals in Pakistan? If so, how do they manage to get into the UK? If not, why not? These are basic questions we should all be asking.

ڈونگا باغ سیالکوٹ کے مولوی خادم حسین نے الٹی میٹم دیا تھا کہ اگر انتظامیہ نے احمدیوں کی عمارت بند نہ کی تو وہ خود کلہاڑا لیکر اسے توڑنے چلے جائیں گے اور اگر آگ لگی تو پھر نہ کہنا#sialkot#ahmadis pic.twitter.com/L78DbccwDQ

— Rumi (@R00mi1) May 24, 2018

This report, entitled ‘Sectarianism, Extremism and Hate Crime, the Impacts on the Ahmadiyya Community’, contextualises the historical and modern drivers of sectarianism against Ahmadi communities, both domestically and internationally. It highlights a history of social activities by Ahmadi groups and the manner in which they initially bridged Muslim and non-Muslim communities through debate, discourse and interfaith engagement. They also took part in reaching out to disaffected communities in countries like the United States, leading to people like Malcom X first coming into contact with Islam.

Report launched by Faith Matters: Sectarianism, Extremism and Hate Crime: The Impacts on the Ahmaddiya Community

The violence against Ahmadis is a product of a wider extremist narrative which exploits the
sensitivities around the blasphemy debate in Islam. It seeks to define Islam through its own narrow interpretations. This report hopes to challenge prevailing narratives and existing stereotypes about the Ahmadi community. Where there is disagreement, we ask for dialogue, not violence or hate. Standing up for the rights of all religious minorities is consistent with the mission and principles of Faith Matters.

A project of Faith Matters, Tell MAMA (Measuring anti-Muslim Attacks), which launched in 2012, serves as a confidential support service for individuals who experience hatred, violence and discrimination due to their Islamic identity. The project publishes groundbreaking yearly reports on anti-Muslim hate crime trends. Tell MAMA also records incidents of intra-Muslim incidents. With this in mind, we highlight the following:

* Tell MAMA documented 29 anti-Ahmadi incidents in 2016 (from Jan – July 1st 2016) which demonstrates a stark rise from the 9 incidents reported in the whole of 2015.
* The murder of Asad Shah intensified media interest in Ahmadi communities. Incidents reported to Tell MAMA after Shah’s murder were both street-based and online.
* The personality cult around Tanveer Ahmed is a disturbing trend. This includes social media posts praising his actions. His supporters glorify Ahmed as an ‘authentic’ defender of the Islamic faith.
* Supporters of Tanveer Ahmed view him as continuing the work of Mumtaz Qadri – the man who was executed for the 2011 murder of Pakistani politician Salman Taseer.
* Seeking to redefine Islam through a narrow, interpretative lens allows fundamentalists to dictate the narrative and exclude others (be they Ahmadi or Shia) as ‘outside’ of Islam helps normalise banal, everyday forms of prejudice, including the decision to boycott Ahmadi-run businesses.
* Some of the earliest Ahmadi missionaries to enter the United States offered a message to black converts that opened them up to new horizons of Islamic teaching. In fact, one of Malcolm X’s first encounters with Islamic teachings was through an Ahmadi missionary.
* Ahmadi missionaries in England helped restore or create some of the earliest registered places of worship for Muslims.
* Some of the key drivers towards anti-Ahmadi legislation in Pakistan and Indonesia reflect the failures of successive governments when faced with the violent demands of the religious right.
* Anti-Ahmadi prejudice on social media continues to be a problem which Faith Matters has raised with Facebook. This creates the platform to normalise hate speech against a religious minority and must be challenged.

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The man accused of murdering the Glasgow shopkeeper, Asad Shah, has made a statement in court through his solicitors. He stated that he carried out the killing because Mr Shah had, according to him, “disrespected” Islam.

The accused, Mr Tanveer Ahmed from Bradford, issued the statement and suggested that Mr Shah was targeted because he thought of himself as a Prophet. This, according to the Mr Ahmed, meant that he has disrespected Islam and his statement denied that the murder was based on any comments that the deceased had regarding Easter and Christianity.

Mr Shah was found outside his shop and had suffered serious head injuries in the Shawlands area of Glasgow. His death led to an outpouring of grief from all communities and to condolences from a range of communities in the City.

Statement Made by John Rafferty, Mr Ahmed’s Lawyer

“My client Mr Tanveer Ahmed has specifically instructed me that today, 6 April 2016, to issue this statement to the press, the statement is in the words of my client.

“This all happened for one reason and no other issues and no other intentions.

“Asad Shah disrespected the messenger of Islam the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. Mr Shah claimed to be a Prophet.

“When 1400 years ago the Prophet of Islam Muhammad peace be upon him has clearly said that ‘I am the final messenger of Allah there is no more prophets or messengers from God Allah after me.

“‘I am leaving you the final Quran. There is no changes. It is the final book of Allah and this is the final completion of Islam. There is no more changes to it and no one has the right to claim to be a Prophet or to change the Quran or change Islam.’

“It is mentioned in the Quran that there is no doubt in this book no one has the right to disrespect the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him and no one has the right to disrespect the Prophet of Islam Muhammad Peace be upon him.

“If I had not done this others would and there would have been more killing and violence in the world.

“I wish to make it clear that the incident was nothing at all to do with Christianity or any other religious beliefs even although I am a follower of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him I also love and respect Jesus Christ.”

The murder of Asad Shah has left a huge imprint on many communities, both Muslim ad non-Muslim. The 40-year-old was deeply respected and had posted a social media post thanking the Christian nation that had given him so much. He also highlighted the role of Christ in Islam and had truly straddled and held dearly, being British and being Muslim. It seems that in many ways, he was at peace in his adopted country.

His brutal murder and the violent manner in which he was treated, means that his death is something that we should actively mark. We should mark any murder, with a desire to redouble our efforts to value the sanctity of life and when someone is violated in such a manner, we should stand together and make clear that we as a society cannot and will not accept such actions. Many have done that by standing in silence, together – people of faith and no-faith. It is testament to his personality and to his humanity.

Whatever, the motivation, we know that Police Scotland regard this murder as religiously motivated. Asad Shah was an Ahmaddiya and the murderer, another Muslim of Sunni heritage. We cannot extrapolate and we must not influence process where justice needs to take its course. Yet, the current information provided is worrying and may indicate sectarian hatred.

We will however highlight the fact that we come across anti-Shia and anti-Ahmaddiya rhetoric through the work we do in Tell MAMA. We have highlighted this before on many occasions and these can be found here, here and here and our Director has also highlighted this issue. 

The fact is that such hate against fellow citizens cannot and should not be tolerated. It is unacceptable and should not longer be regarded as an ‘intra-Muslim’ issue. They are hate incidents and are recorded as such by us and dealt with in an identical manner by the police. We must remain vigilant against such forms of intolerance and whilst people may have differences in opinion, openly stating threats against Ahmaddiya Muslims or Shia Muslims is unacceptable.  We should not tolerate such hatred and sectarianism any more.

Examples of Sectarian Material Circulated

These are some of the examples of material that we have picked up:

The post Murder of Asad Shah Has Taken Something From Us All. appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The murder of Asad Shah has left a huge imprint on many communities, both Muslim ad non-Muslim. The 40-year-old was deeply respected and had posted a social media post thanking the Christian nation that had given him so much. He also highlighted the role of Christ in Islam and had truly straddled and held dearly, being British and being Muslim. It seems that in many ways, he was at peace in his adopted country.

His brutal murder and the violent manner in which he was treated, means that his death is something that we should actively mark. We should mark any murder, with a desire to redouble our efforts to value the sanctity of life and when someone is violated in such a manner, we should stand together and make clear that we as a society cannot and will not accept such actions. Many have done that by standing in silence, together – people of faith and no-faith. It is testament to his personality and to his humanity.

Whatever, the motivation, we know that Police Scotland regard this murder as religiously motivated. Asad Shah was an Ahmaddiya and the murderer, another Muslim of Sunni heritage. We cannot extrapolate and we must not influence process where justice needs to take its course. Yet, the current information provided is worrying and may indicate sectarian hatred.

We will however highlight the fact that we come across anti-Shia and anti-Ahmaddiya rhetoric through the work we do in Tell MAMA. We have highlighted this before on many occasions and these can be found here, here and here and our Director has also highlighted this issue. 

The fact is that such hate against fellow citizens cannot and should not be tolerated. It is unacceptable and should not longer be regarded as an ‘intra-Muslim’ issue. They are hate incidents and are recorded as such by us and dealt with in an identical manner by the police. We must remain vigilant against such forms of intolerance and whilst people may have differences in opinion, openly stating threats against Ahmaddiya Muslims or Shia Muslims is unacceptable.  We should not tolerate such hatred and sectarianism any more.

Examples of Sectarian Material Circulated

These are some of the examples of material that we have picked up:

The post Murder of Asad Shah Has Taken Something From Us All. appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Muhammadu Buhari, a Sunni Muslim and a former military dictator, has surprisingly won the 2015 Presidential elections in Nigeria after three consecutive defeats. Buhari has campaigned on a platform of ‘change’, promising economic stability, to curb corruption and to utilise political strength in tackling the terrorist group, Boko Haram.

The Buhari government, however, has faced international criticism, due to the clash between the army and the minority Shia community in Zaria. Reports of events prior to the clash are unclear, the army asserts that the Nigerian Chief of Army Staff, Genenral Tukur Buratai, was blockaded near Zaria and the convoy was attacked by a petrol bomb. The Shia Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) deny any attack occurred and demand the release of their leader Ibraheem Zakzaky.

The government forces raided Zakzaky’s home and the whereabouts of his wife and sons are unknown. The IMN have stated that they have been killed in the raid, however, the Nigerian authorities have declared that his wife is in custody. Iran has condemned the attacks and called for the release of the Shiite leader. The movement has also been confronted by Boko Haram.

The problem remains complex: it would be too simplistic to apportion the blame to Shia and Sunni tensions as these continue to be manipulated by political ambitions. This is true for Zakzaky, who is deeply influenced by Iranian clerics, who believe themselves to be the saviours and provide leadership and guidance for Shia Muslims across the world.

Iran is the only Islamic regime to be run by a Shia-led administration. Thus, Iranian clerics continue to support any prominent actor that will aid in increasingly Shiite influence around the globe. Zakzaky’s IMN received financial contributions from Iran. The Islamic movement has had several clashes with government forces, leading to the capture and imprisonment of 120 Shiite followers. However, Zakzaky denies any financial backing from Iranian sources.

Zakzaky has asserted his support for an Islamic revolution much in the style of Iran, while his followers are believed to receive paramilitary training. Iran received a useful ally in Nigeria, albeit not as important as Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Iranian vision of entrancing Shia Islam into global mainstream politics remains important. Analysts agree that IMN adds further tensions along ethnic lines. Previous administrations have also attacked the IMN. For instance, in July 2014, stressing they were defending themselves after soldiers were abducted in a ‘peaceful processions’ supporting Palestine. The police suggest that four people were killed but the IMN claims 25 were killed – including two of Zakzaky’s sons.

The clashes are not limited to a Sunni President in power. This questions the source of the Sunni-Shia tensions. In Syria, Lebanon and Yemen are battlefields for the proxy wars of Iran and Saudi Arabia, each attempting to entrench their political dominance within the Middle East. Thus, the tensions in Nigeria to a smaller extent could be a Shia resurgence within Africa, in the political vision of Iran.

The political ramifications of Zakzaky’s power should not be overstated as the main security threat remains Boko Haram. When examining Nigerian affairs, however, in terms of Sunni-Shia violence, more detail must be given to foreign power politics than religious difference alone.

Samiha Sharif holds a Masters of Science in International Politics from SOAS. She Currently volunteering at Tell MAMA. And writes in a personal capacity.

The post What’s behind the Sunni-Shia tensions in Nigeria? appeared first on Religious Reader.