They are required to sign an affidavit, saying “I consider Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani a liar and his followers non-Muslims.”
by Marco Respinti
State violence against the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at (AMJ) (“jama’at” meaning “community”) is reaching unbearable levels. It is not surprising, then, that squads of thugs in the streets take direct action attacking mosques, houses, and events, desecrating burials, and even beating or killing Ahmadis who are guilty only of their beliefs.
Considered heretics and non-Muslim by some other Muslims, Ahmadis suffer the most in some Muslim countries, i.e. countries where Muslims are the majority of the population, governments explicitly appeal to the Muslim faith, or even officially devise themselves as Islamic states.
For example, Saudi Arabia, which is an Islamic absolute monarchy, denies Ahmadis even the simple right to exist. Ahmadis are in fact forbidden to enter the country and foreign workers who are identified as Ahmadis are expelled.
Algeria, which is a semi-presidential Islamic republic (of a socialist kind) where Sunni Muslim represent about 99% of the population, and whose 2016 Constitution, in Article 2, states that “Islam is the religion of the state,” follows a similar path. Ahmadis are jailed for the simple reason of being Ahmadis.
And recent news coming from Pakistan confirms the discrimination Ahmadis are subject to there. On March 7, 2023, the District Bar Council of Gujranwala, in Punjab, Pakistan, issued a notice prohibiting admittance of Ahmadi lawyers.
If Ahmadi lawyers want to join the Bar Council they have to “dis-Ahmadi” themselves, renouncing to their religious beliefs and cultural identity. More than that: they are obliged to commit apostasy and to pronounce blasphemy—which is quite curious in a country where a complex of norms, generally known as “blasphemy laws,” is used by some Muslims to persecute, up to imposing death sentences, religious minorities and political adversaries.
In fact, the District Bar Council of Gujranwala requires Ahmadis lawyers to sign an affidavit condemning the founder of AMJ, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908), and calling him a liar and a fraudulent claimant of prophethood.
What follows is the text of the notice issued by the District Bar Council of Gujranwala, in an English translation provided by the International Human Rights Committee, a non-profit and non-governmental organization focusing on freedom of religion or belief based in London.
“Long Live Tajdar Khatm e Nabuwat
Notice Announcement
All honorable members of the bar are informed that following affidavit has been included in the membership form in accordance with the resolution passed in the meeting of General House on 23rd February 2023. From now onwards, membership of the District Bar Association will be handed over in accordance with the affidavit related to Tajdar Khatm e Nabuwat (PBUH).
I am Muslim and have unconditional belief in Khatm e Nabuwat, the finality of Prophethood of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). I do not accept anyone who claims to be a Prophet after the Holy Prophet (PBUH) by amending the known definition of the word, Prophet. I do not accept such claimant of Prophecy as Prophet or Religious Preacher. I do not consider such person Muslim. I consider Mirza Ghulam Ahmed Qadiani a liar (God forbid) and his Lahori and Qadiani followers, non-Muslims.
Secretary Bar
Hafiz Wazir Ali Malik Advocate
7-3-2023
Ref No: 33/2023.”
In brief, Pakistani institutions label Ahmadis as second-class citizens. No wonder Ahmadis are assaulted and butchered in Pakistani streets by bandits who think they act legally, encouraged as they are by the climate that institutions themselves are creating.
