Ahmadis in Penang live a peaceful life

Northern region Ahmadi Community jemaat president Abdul Aziz Mohd Ibrahim (right) and fellow Ahmadi member from Indonesia, Hasnar Sriregar (left).

GEORGE TOWN: Ahmadi Muslims in Penang continue to live in peace with other Muslims despite a resurgence of anti-Ahmadi sentiment elsewhere in Peninsular Malaysia, particularly in the Klang Valley.

According to Abdul Aziz Mohd Ibrahim, the president of the Ahmadi Muslim Community Association for the northern region, scores of Ahmadis regularly go to the many mosques and suraus in the state to perform their five obligatory prayers alongside other Muslims.

“There is something about Penang that is very different from other states on the peninsula,” Aziz told FMT. “You see mosques, churches and temples everywhere. We see this is a sign that people here are people of faith and of tolerance. And the Muslims here see us as one them, praise be to God.”

Federal Islamic authorities have declared Ahmadi Islam as a deviationist sect because the Ahmadis believe Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, who died in 1908, to be the promised Messiah. Mainstream Muslims, on the other hand, believe the Messiah to be Jesus the son of Mary and that he will come back to earth in his second coming towards the end of times.

The Ahmadi community claims to have tens of millions of followers throughout the world. It currently has its headquarters in Britain.

“Our Messiah has been sent to revive Islam and restart peace efforts with dialogue, service to humanity and the promotion of pluralism,” Aziz said.

He said there could be more than 1,000 Ahmadis in Malaysia, with 45 families in Penang. He added that neither the state’s religious authorities nor individual non-Ahmadi Muslims had harassed them.

“Wherever we go, we introduce ourselves proudly as Ahmadis,” he said. “They would greet us with salaam and pray side by side with us. There is no problem.”

The Penang Ahmadi Community’s missionary-in-charge, Abdul Azizam, told FMT he was confident that the community would “continue to grow at places with great tolerance”.

Abdul Azizam, Penang’s missionary-in-charge for the Ahmadi community.

He said the current growth centres were in Sabah and Sarawak.

Abdul, who hails from Kota Kinabalu, said the community’s growth rate in Sabah was so encouraging that every district in the state already had a community centre.

“As a proud Sabahan, I can say that Sabah is tolerant towards all faiths. This is why our Ahmadi community has continued to grow there.”

Misinformation

According to Aziz, Ahmadi Islam places the greatest emphasis on peace, tolerance, respect and love.

“Our sect believes in love for all and hatred for none. Our Messiah said a jihad by the sword has no place in Islam. Instead, we are told to engage in the jihad of the pen, waging an intellectual discourse to defend Islam.”

He complained of a “campaign of misinformation” by the mainstream ulamas in Malaysia.

He said the ulamas were lying when they said the Ahmadis had amended the Quran.

“How can the Quran be changed? We use the same holy book. You can see it for yourself if it is amended.

“There was even one report in a Malay daily claiming that we pray with our backs to the Kaabah. This was accompanied with a flipped picture of us performing the prayer.

“We have even been called agents of the British and Jews.

“We are constantly trying to counter these false statements through discourse over the internet.”

He also spoke of a campaign to vilify the Ahmadis by calling them Qadianis, a term that he said had somehow acquired a negative connotation.

“They keep referring to us as Qadianis, which is a term for those hailing from Qadian, India. I think the Qadiani word has become a bad word of sorts. When other local Muslims hear that word, they get jittery and riled up, thinking we are a deviated sect.”

Referring to last month’s call by the Muslim Consumers’ Association for official action against the Ahmadis, Aziz said the best way to defuse the resultant tension was to have a forum where all doubts about the sect could be answered.

He suggested the participation of “at least 250 Ahmadis and 250 Muslims from other sects” in the forum and invited any broadcasting or internet company to cover the event live.

“We have successfully held international peace forums in Penang, inviting hundreds of religious leaders all over the world,” he said. “We will not hesitate to face our detractors.

“There is a saying that there are 73 sects in Islam and they are not united with one another. But when it comes to Ahmadi Muslims, 72 sects unite to fight us. It is a strange thing.” -FMT