How Ahmadis are braving educational apartheid of Pakistan

It was a relatively cool evening in Rabwah, a few days ago. I was there on an invitation to attend an enthralling seminar on “The shroud of Turin”, held in a state of the art Auditorium of Nusrat Jehan College for girls. My host was the exuberant Faateh Bajwa, deputy director of Ahmadiyya community’s central education Department, referred to as Nazarat Taleem. After the seminar, I was shown around, and I must confess I was dumbstruck by the sprawling campus, …

Thousands attend anti-Ahmadiyya ‘KhatmeNabuwat’ conference in Rabwah

The small town of Rabwah went into lockdown on Thursday as thousands made their way to attend the controversial ‘KhatmeNabuwat’ conference. More than 20,000 people are thought to be attending the two-day conference which began on October 27th. The event has been organized by the controversial AMTKN (Aalmi Majlis – e – Tahfuze KhatmeNabuwat) movement, an organization described as a hate group due to its continued encouragement of violence against Ahmadi Muslims. The arrangements for the event have been made …

Canadian PM Justin Trudeau welcomes ‘Khalifa of Islam’

Canadian Twitter was buzzing Monday afternoon as the ‘Khalifa of Islam‘ arrived in Ottawa to meet Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The hashtag #CaliphinCanada started trending across Canada as the Khalifa of tens of millions of Muslims made his way to Parliament Hill. His Holiness Mirza Masroor Ahmad, who is the worldwide spiritual head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was greeted by Members of Parliament upon his arrival at Houses of Parliament. Prime Minister Trudeau welcomed the Caliph to Canada and thanked …

‘Khalifa of Islam’ to visit Canada

The religious leader of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, His Holiness Mirza Masroor Ahmad is set to arrive in Canada on October 3rd as the community marks 50 years in Canada. This will be his 4th trip to Canada since being elected Caliph in 2003. On Monday thousands will gather at Ahmadiyya ave in Toronto to welcome the ‘Khalifa of Islam‘. The Caliph will be welcomed by Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship, John McCallum. His Canadian tour will commence with …

PEMRA dismisses Ahmadis’ complaint against TV Channels after mob storms office

Pakistan’s Electronic Media Authority (PEMRA) has come under fire after two TV channels aired ‘hateful’ content against the minority Ahmadiyya community. Pakistan’s NEO TV and Channel-92 labeled Ahmadis as ‘Blasphemers’ and ‘Traitors’ in their TV show, Harf-e-Raz, and Subh-e-Noor which were aired in the first week of September. Following the airing of the programs representatives of Ahmadiyya community filed complaints against the two TV channels with PEMRA. The complaint filed by Ahmadiyya representatives stated that “The programs were provocative against …

Pakistan’s top cleric calls for execution of Ahmadis

Chairman of Pakistan’s “Ruet-e-Hilal Committee” Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman has called on the Government to execute Ahmadis as they do not believe in the finality of Prophet Muhammad. He made the comments on Saturday, while speaking at a KhatmeNabuwat rally in the village of Lalian. Mufti Muneeb ur Rahman said “According to the constitution of Pakistan, Ahmadis are deniers of KhatmeNabuwat (Finality of Prophethood) and are hence outside the fold of Islam, Since the punishment for not accepting the constitution is execution, …

Iran opposes appointment of ‘Qadiani’ Asma Jahangir as UN Rapporteur on Human Rights

Iran has slammed the decision by United Nations to appoint Asma Jahangir as special rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran and called her out as a ‘Qadiani’, a derogatory term used for members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Sect. Pakistani Lawyer and Human Rights activist Asma Jahangir was appointed as the United Nation’s Special Rapporteur for Human Rights to Iran on Thursday, September, 1 replacing Maldivian diplomat Ahmed Shaheed. Congratulations @Asma_Jahangir on being named as next UN Sp Rapporteur on #Iran. …

Pakistan Police Arrest Christian Teenager for Facebook Post

A 16-year-old Pakistani Christian has been arrested for Blasphemy for liking a Facebook post. The teenager who is from Punjab has been jailed pending trial. On 18th September, 16-year-old Nabeel Chohan from Chak 66, Bhai Pheru, District of Kasur was arrested and charged under Pakistan’s infamous Blasphemy law. He was arrested by the Police after locals filed a complaint against Masih under Section 295/ 295A of Pakistan’s penal code. The complainant alleged that he was going through Masih’s Facebook account …

German restaurant expels Muslim woman over Veil row

A restaurant manager in Bielefeld, Northern Germany expelled a woman in a full burqa from his Seekrug restaurant which inflicted a media storm. Since then Christian Schulz, the restaurant manager was flooded with comments on his Facebook page that either declared the support for his action or labelled him a “racist”. The niqab wearer turned up on a Saturday to the Seekrug restaurant where people were gathered to celebrate the Festival of Light. The surrounding people started to feel discomfort …

Ahmadis fearful of celebrating Eid in Rabwah

“The right to celebrate Eid and other Islamic traditions has been snatched away from us because they are associated to Islam and since we have been declared non-Muslim we can not celebrate” In 1974 Pakistan declared the Ahmadis a non-Muslim minority using a constitutional amendment. Since then they have been stopped from celebrating “Muslims Holy Festivals.” 60-year-old Ijaz Ahmad is a resident of Rabwah and works in a small company. He says like every year he likes to celebrate Eid …

Respecting others’ view is the way out

It is time we learned to dissociate Islam from any form of intolerance and extremism. Islam is a religion that teaches and advocates peace among people of diverse backgrounds and the whole world in its entirety. Owing to the heterogeneity of the world, Islam permits every human to have their say and practice whatever they deem right to make them attain salvation, but always pointing to the fact that the only way to attain salvation is peaceful coexistence. The recent …

Islam, Blasphemy & the Nigerian State

The subject of blasphemy, as it concerns Islamic personages or symbols, has become more visible in recent times especially in countries or regions that pride themselves as adhering to the Islamic faith, no thanks to the attendant jungle justice that have been meted out to alleged ‘blasphemers’. Nigeria has a blotted history of violence arising from allegations of blasphemy. Blasphemy is regarded as the utterance of words or actions considered unworthy or impious in respect of beings or things that …