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"Did this have to happen for you to speak for us"

June 17th, 2010 | 57 Comments

By Mohammed Hanif BBC News, Karachi   More than 80 Ahmadis were killed last months in two atacks in Lahore When a Pakistani Muslim applies for a passport or national ID card, they are asked to sign an oath that no Muslim anywhere in the world is asked to sign. The oath goes like this: “I consider Mirza Ghulam Ahmad an impostor prophet. And also consider his followers, whether belonging to the Lahori or Qadiani group, to be non-Muslims.” Like millions of other Pakistanis, I have signed this oath several times without giving much thought to exactly what Mr Ahmad stands for, or what the technical difference between Lahoris or Qadianis is. I want my passport, and if I have to sign up to a fatwa to get it, so be it. But like millions of people from my generation I also remember that when I was growing up, the minority Ahmadi sect were considered just another Muslim sect. Non-Muslims Like scores of others I had friends who were Ahmadis. We played cricket together, and sometimes, when our parents ordered us off to the mosque, we even prayed side by side. Ahmadis are despised by many Pakistanis Last month, when more than 90 Ahmadis were massacred in two mosques in Lahore, I remembered the precise moment in 1974 when it all began to change. There were street protests by religious parties against Ahmadis demanding that they should be declared non-Muslims. One day I saw some bearded activists standing outside a clothes merchant’s shop in our town, chanting anti-Ahmadi slogans and turning customers away, telling them that buying clothes from Ahmadis was haram – forbidden. At the time I was learning to memorise the Koran from a very kind, mild-mannered teacher. I asked him what exactly was wrong with the Ahmadis. He explained to me that they didn’t believe that the Prophet Muhammad was the last and the final messenger. I said OK, maybe that makes them kafirs, infidels, but who says that kafirs can’t sell cloth? My teacher’s response was a full-handed slap, so sudden, so unexpected that it rang in my ears for days to come. That same year Pakistan’s first elected parliament declared Ahmadis non-Muslims. Then in 1984 Pakistan’s military dictator and self-appointed guardian of the faith General Zia-ul-Haq inserted that oath in the constitution that we are all required to sign. Because of the new laws, Ahmadis have been sent to prison simply for using the Muslim greeting Assalamu alaikum, or putting a Koranic verse in a greeting card. Heretic Over the last three decades the hatred against Ahmadis has become so widespread that Pakistan is now embarrassed by the only Nobel laureate it has ever produced. Attacks on Ahmadis are beconing increasingly commonplace Dr Abdus Salam Khan won the Nobel Prize for physics and, as a proud Pakistani, accepted his award in national dress. But he was an Ahmadi so there is no monument to celebrate him, no universities named after him. The word “Muslim” on his gravestone has been erased. Even the town he is buried in has been renamed in an attempt to erase our collective memory. This hatred was evident in the reactions to the massacre. TV channels were more obsessed with making sure that in their broadcasts Ahmadi mosques were called “places of worship”. When you refuse to call a place of worship by its proper name, you are implying that it’s not a mosque, it’s not a church, it’s not a synagogue, it’s a place where godless people do godless things. And all the various Islamic political parties, whose leaders often refuse to pray together, are united on this. When Pakistan’s main opposition leader Nawaz Sharif used the phrase “our brothers” for the murdered Ahmadis, leaders from 11 political parties came together to condemn him and threatened to issue a fatwa declaring him a heretic. Over the last three decades the siege has been so palpable that those Ahmadis who couldn’t afford to emigrate have taken to hiding their identity. If you want to destroy someone in public life it’s enough to drop a hint that they are Ahmadi. In the 1980s, the former chief minister of Punjab and current federal minister didn’t attend his own mother’s funeral because there were rumours that she was an Ahmadi. When the funerals of the massacred Ahmadis took place there were no officials, no politicians present. Pakistan’s liberal bloggers and some English-language columnists did write along the lines that Ahmadi blood is on our hands. Others were adamant that it was yet another Friday, yet another massacre by the Pakistani Taliban, and we should just fight this sort of terrorism and leave the sectarian debates alone. Two incidents in the past week made me realise how pathological our response was. At a vigil to mark the massacre, where a handful of people had turned up, a passer-by asked me “Are you an Ahmadi?” My own loud and aggressive denial surprised me. Then an Ahmadi friend whose father survived the Lahore massacre wrote to me saying: “You know we have been living like this for decades. [Did] something like this have to happen for you to speak up?”

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57 Responses to ""Did this have to happen for you to speak for us""

1. Ammar says:

   June 21, 2010 at 4:21 pm

   It is our cowardliness which has lead to such extremist tendencies in society; we choose to remain silent for we thought that our views of dissent will not be appreciated by the society. The religion got entangled with politics and we choose to remain silent and step by step the militants have gained so much strength that now they control and rule the airways. We need to come clear and firm that we oppose Taliban, we oppose oppression of minorities we oppose secretion divides!
2. OMLK says:

   June 21, 2010 at 5:48 pm

   @Moosa

   This could be a long discusssion. In short, by “metaphorical” prophet it is meant some one with the spiritual qualities similar to a prophet, in other works some one who is “like” a prophet, but not actually a prophet. A crude example would calling a human a “tiger” for his fighting qualites.

   So the saints who exhibited certain spiritual exellences, the word prophet is applied in a “metaphorical” sense. Some saints like Hazrat Mansoor referred to them selves as metaphorical God. This is based on the Quran, Hadith and writings of HMGA. For a full discussion and the theological LAM position on the matter, may I direct you to the book “Prohethood in Islam,” by Maulana Muhamamd Ali.

   Intrestingly some common phrases in South Asia metaphorically refer to humans as God. Example “Zill-e-Ilahi” or “Shadow of God” for Kings and “Mujazi Khuda” or “metaphorical Gods” for husbands (suddenly my need for using a pseudonym has become urgent in case my wife is reading this!)
3. Bin Ismail says:

   June 21, 2010 at 7:58 pm

   @banjara286 (June 21, 2010 at 5:18 am)

   1. “…..if the second amendment is the issue then battle it in the parliament and get a constitution change to abolish it. isn’t that the normal procedure?…..”

   The parliament is not the right body to judge the state of belief or disbelief of any community. Just as it would be outside the jurisdiction of the parliament to decide whether Abu Bakr was the rightful successor of the Holy Prophet, or Ali, it would similarly be outside the jurisdiction of the parliament to decide who is a Muslim and who is not.

   2. “…..my conscience is just fine, thank you very much. you wouldn’t have to answer for any way so why bring it into the equation?…..”

   You’re welcome, but my comment was not with reference to your personal conscience. It was about the “collective national conscience”.

   3. “…..what people like you are trying to do is to goad people into supporting your personal agenda. it is a well known tactic; and that is exactly what i mean by trying to pull wool over people’s eyes…..”

   It is not public approval or support that Ahmadis seek. Human approval and earthly support is quite irrelevant in matters of faith. Ahmadis only seek to express what they deem the truth, before an audience gracious enough to listen. There are no tactics involved.
4. banjara286 says:

   June 22, 2010 at 3:01 am

   
   It is not public approval or support that Ahmadis seek. Human approval and earthly support is quite irrelevant in matters of faith. Ahmadis only seek to express what they deem the truth, before an audience gracious enough to listen. There are no tactics involved.

   … and you expect to beat the audience into being gracious by abusing them and calling them vulgar names?

   if it weren’t for my conscience i wouldn’t raise my voice for the rights of minorities. it is no thanks to the behavior of ahmadi posters in the cyberspace.
5. OMLK says:

   June 22, 2010 at 12:22 pm

   unfortunately there are still some poeple who are like ostriches with their heads in the sand. There is no doubt, that the religio-political nexus that thrives on fermenting hate to push its own agendas and in come cases to even justify their very existence, have targeted Ahamdis and have basically relegated then to 2nd class citizens in a country they fought for and have rendered great services for over the years (from the science labs to the battle fields). Actually it just occurred to me that what the JI sponsored “jihadis” have not been able to do in decades, what one Ahmadi Gentleman almost did in 1965 (with the exception of coursethat the Ahmadi gentleman did it officially under a state declared war following certain norms and procedures).
6. OMLK says:

   June 22, 2010 at 3:29 pm

   correction:

   “what one Ahmadi Gentleman” = “one Ahmadi Gentleman”
7. Bin Ismail says:

   June 23, 2010 at 8:59 pm

   @ banjara286 (June 22, 2010 at 3:01 am)

   “..… and you expect to beat the audience into being gracious by abusing them and calling them vulgar names?…if it weren’t for my conscience i wouldn’t raise my voice for the rights of minorities. it is no thanks to the behavior of ahmadi posters in the cyberspace…..”

   Ahmadis are highly appreciative of grace, wherever it has been shown. Thank you for your kindness too. However, Ahmadis do not ask for grace from anybody but their Creator.

   You have a conscience. Good for you.

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