Ahmadiyya Muslims should be a part of our language.

Ahmadiyya Muslims should be a part of our language | World Muslim Congresshttp://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2015/07/ahmadiyya-muslims-should-be-part-of-our.html
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I don't have a bone of prejudice in me, and I sincerely believe God is Rabbul Aalameen (Creator of the universe), and Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is Rahmatul Aalameen (Mercy to every atom in the universe). We are all from the same couple Adam and Eve, and we are members of one large family, and each one of us is deliberately created to be unique with our own thumbprint, DNA and other uniqueness’s. With that uniqueness we are bound to have irreconcilable differences, and how do we get around that?  God says the best ones among you are those who take the time to learn about each other, and when we do that, conflicts fade and solutions emerge.

All of us have to live in the given space, we might as well learn about each other, to understand and accept the differences, and not force agreements against the will of the people, that would be against what God wants. You live your life and I will live mine, a corollary from Quran 109.6 says,  to you is your faith and to me is my faith.

When we started the discussion group “World Muslim Congress.” I went about learning different denominations as this group and site belongs to "all Muslims" and came across the unbelievable prejudice towards the Ahmadiyya Muslims.  Indeed, they are chased, harassed and persecuted in Pakistan, and the extremity of the hate is even ‘enshrined’ in their constitution, and that beats anyone with any common sense.  The hate virus has expanded to Indonesia, Bangladesh and it has even reached India dividing us all up. There is no justification whatsoever to hate any one.

Why am I writing this? 

As Muslims, we call out on the bigotry of a few evangelicals, before we do that, we need to be clean, so we can cast the first stone.  Let’s not be hateful towards any one and clearly reject the extremist’s ideology of Wajib Qatl (killing is a must) towards Ahmadiyya Muslims. Let’s share God and the Prophet with the entire world as they are not exclusively ours to deny them to others.

Of course the bias is a two way street, I have written extensively about it.  I have done my Iftaar and Friday prayers in the mosques of every (yes every) denomination to understand the differences, so we can learn about each other. We don't need to be friends, but at least we don't have to seethe and brood and be miserable because others believe differently.  It’s all documented at www.Ramadanexclusive.com and www.WorldMulsimCongress.com.

However, the responsibility for caring for oppressed falls squarely on the majority.  It is the white majority that stood up for civil rights to pass as a law; it is the Hindu majority that stood up for Muslim minorities  in India to have their own laws; and it should be the Sunni Majority in Pakistan that needs to speak up and care for its minorities, all minorities.  As a minority ourselves (Sunnis in the United States) don’t we wish the majority understands us and respect us, thank God, at least we are no Wajib Qatl to them, can we be that civil to our own minorities back home?

None of us have to agree, but all of us must choose to mind our own faith, we cannot compel any one to drop their belief and accept ours that would go against the essence of Islam. Allah will not ask you about what others did, he asks you, were you good to his creation?  How would we feel if the Christian majority tells to either believe their way to take the highway?

At World Muslim Congress and Dallas Pakistanis groups, we have carried civil conversations for over 13 years, it was not easy at the beginning, and for many years, I was alone, but now we have many Sunni Muslims who see the point of view in both the groups and I appreciate their being good Muslims. Now comes the editorial in Gulf News that includes Ahmadiyya Muslims in its list of Muslims. 

Today it was a delight to read Tariq Al-Maeena writes an editorial in Gulf news and this is a sea change, and I hope more and more “Muslim writers” start the inclusion process.  Theologically let’s accept us all to be different – each one of the 73 tribes will have its own uniqueness that God has said and prophet has predicted that.

I wrote to him, Tariq, I'm surprised and pleased that you added Ahmadiyya Muslims in your last paragraph, and I applaud you for this.“I am not a Sunni or a Shiite or an Ahmadi or a Khawani. I am a Muslim! I am not a Salafist or a Sufi, a Ja’afari or a Batini. I am a Muslim! I was raised by the Islamic tenets of peace and kindness ... And by God, I am angry that people in the name of Islam defile my religion.”

Thank you Tariq Al-Maeena

My Islam teaches me to be Rahmat (mercy) to the Aalameen, if I am a zahmat (tyrant) towards fellow beings, then should I call myself a Muslim?

Mike Ghouse
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I am a Muslim and I am angry
It angers me to see how a peaceful religion has been manipulated by some to be a tool of terror against their perceived adversaries. 
By Tariq Al-Maeena

http://gulfnews.com/opinion/thinkers/i-am-a-muslim-and-i-am-angry-1.1545173

PUBLISHED: 17:03 JULY 4, 2015

Ramadan is a spiritually significant month for Muslims the world over. It is a time for inner reflection, devotion to God and self-control. It is a time when Muslims repent, ask for forgiveness for sins and spend their time in intense worship. Muslims think of it as a kind of tune-up for their spiritual lives. We are to make peace with those who have wronged us, strengthen ties with family and friends and do away with bad habits and bad feelings. Fasting, reading the Quran, increasing charitable deeds, cleansing one’s behaviour and doing good are some of the ways Muslims use to draw themselves closer to God. This is what true Muslims believe in and do.

On June 26, an explosion rocked a mosque in Kuwait that killed 27 and wounded 227 worshippers. Worshippers had gathered for Friday prayers at the Al Imam Al Sadeq mosque in Kuwait City when a powerful bomb ripped through the courtyard of the heavily-congested mosque, causing much death and damage. The timing of the blast was significant as Friday noon prayers are generally the most crowded of the week and attendance increases multifold during Ramadan.

Investigations later revealed that the perpetrator was a Saudi male who, along with some Kuwaiti sympathisers, intended to stir up Sunni-Shiite divisions with his murderous act. This bearded individual from a village in Saudi Arabia had actually flown into Kuwait from Riyadh on the day of the bombings and left a trail of death and destruction among the faithful. He had stayed at a house owned by an extremist who subscribed to “extremist and deviant ideology” and was then driven to the mosque by an illegal resident to carry out this macabre plan.

Immediate credit

On the same day, there were terror attacks in two different continents conducted by supposed sympathisers of the extreme doctrine followed by the Saudi suicide bomber. In Tunisia, a gunman wandered on to a popular beach at a seaside resort and gunned down guests with an automatic rifle. The death count was 38, while 36 people were wounded, according to Tunisian authorities. In France, a man with suspicious ties to violent groups blew up a factory, injuring two people. A decapitated body and the severed head was found nearby. Daesh (the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) took immediate credit for these gruesome acts.

As a consolation, it was somewhat refreshing to note that leading Islamic institutions immediately denounced such dastardly acts. The leading Sunni institution based in Egypt, Al Azhar, released a statement saying that “the heinous shooting at a Tunisian coastal resort that killed 38 people, mostly Europeans, was a violation of all religious and humanitarian norms”. It also condemned the suicide bombing at the Kuwaiti Shiite mosque and the suspected militant attack in France. In a publicised statement, in reference to Daesh, Al Azhar called on “the international community to defeat this terrorist group through all available means”.

Delivering a message

In Kuwait, the ruling Emir, the government, parliamentary and political groups and clerics all said last Friday’s attack on the Shiite mosque was meant to stir up sectarian strife in the emirate. Terming the attack bluntly as one of “black terror” a statement said that “the objectives of the criminal act have failed. We want to deliver a message to Daesh that we are united brothers, the Sunnis and Shiites, and they cannot divide us”.

I am angry. As a Muslim, it maddens me when criminals use my religion to screen their immoral and murderous intentions.

“I am angry that people in the name of Islam defile my religion.”

-Tariq A. Al Maeena

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It infuriates me that I have to justify my religion and myself to the non-Muslim world in the wake of such barbarity by individuals with no obvious morals. It angers me that a terrorist like the Saudi who flew into Kuwait tarnishes my religion and my nationality with his vicious actions.

It angers me to see how a peaceful religion has been manipulated by some to be a tool of terror against their perceived adversaries. It angers me that such people follow “extreme and deviant ideology” and yet call themselves Muslims.

It angers me to know that some clerics with their hardline views continue to promote sectarian divisions from both sides. It angers me to know that they are still being heard.

I am not a Sunni or a Shiite or an Ahmadi or a Khawani. I am a Muslim! I am not a Salafist or a Sufi, a Ja’afari or a Batini. I am a Muslim! I was raised by the Islamic tenets of peace and kindness ... And by God, I am angry that people in the name of Islam defile my religion.

Tariq A. Al Maeena is a Saudi socio-political commentator. He lives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.