Ahmadiyya
| Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at Ahmadiyya Muslim Community | |
|---|---|
The White Minaret and the Ahmadiyya flag in Qadian, India. For Ahmadi Muslims, the two symbolize the advent of the Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. | |
| Type | Sect of Islam |
| Scripture | Quran and various books of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad |
| Caliph | Mirza Masroor Ahmad |
| Founder | Mirza Ghulam Ahmad |
| Origin | 19th century British India |
| Separated from | Sunni Islam |
| Number of followers | 10–20 million |
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Ahmadiyya (/ˌɑːməˈdiːə/, also UK: /-ˈdiːjə/[1]), officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (Arabic: الجماعة الإسلامية الأحمدية, romanized: al-Jamāʿah al-Islāmīyyah al-Aḥmadīyyah, Urdu: جماعتِ احمدیہ مسلمہ, romanized: Jamā‘at-i-Aḥmadiyah Muslimah) is an Islamic messianic[2] movement originating in British India in the late 19th century.[3] It was founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908), who said he had been divinely appointed as both the Promised Mahdi (Guided One) and Messiah expected by Muslims to appear towards the end times and bring about, by peaceful means, the final triumph of Islam;[4][5][6][7] as well as to embody, in this capacity, the expected eschatological figure of other major religious traditions.[8] Adherents of the Ahmadiyya—a term adopted expressly in reference to Muhammad's alternative name Ahmad[9] — are known as Ahmadi Muslims or simply Ahmadis.
Ahmadi thought emphasizes the belief that Islam is the final dispensation for humanity as revealed to Muhammad and the necessity of restoring it to its true intent and pristine form, which had been lost through the centuries. Its adherents consider Ahmad to have appeared as the Mahdi—bearing the qualities of Jesus in accordance with their reading of scriptural prophecies—to revitalize Islam and set in motion its moral system that would bring about lasting peace.[4]: 18–20 [3]: xv [10][8]: 2, 42–48 They believe that upon divine guidance he purged Islam of foreign accretions in belief and practice by championing what is, in their view, Islam's original precepts as practised by Muhammad and the early Muslim community.[4]: 22 Ahmadis thus view themselves as leading the propagation and renaissance of Islam.[11]
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad established the Community on 23 March 1889 by formally accepting allegiance from his supporters. Since his death, the Community has been led by a succession of Caliphs. By 2017 it had spread to 210 countries and territories of the world with concentrations in South Asia, West Africa, East Africa, and Indonesia. The Ahmadis have a strong missionary tradition, having formed the first Muslim missionary organization to arrive in Britain and other Western countries.[12][13] Currently, the community is led by its caliph, Mirza Masroor Ahmad, and is estimated to number between 10 and 20 million worldwide.
The movement is almost entirely a single, highly organized group. However, in the early history of the community, some Ahmadis dissented over the nature of Ahmad's prophetic status and succession. They formed the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement, which has since dwindled to a small fraction of all Ahmadis.
Ahmadiyya's recognition of Ahmad as a prophet has been characterized as heretical by mainstream Muslims, who believe that Muhammad was the final prophet, and the Ahmadi movement has faced non-recognition and persecution in many parts of the world.
- ^ "Ahmadiyya". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- ^ Özaykal, K. A. (2016). "Messianic Legitimacy: the case of Ahmadiyya and Mahdiyya Movements". Journal of Istanbul University Faculty of Theology (35): 217–256. Archived from the original on 22 October 2022. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
- ^ a b Valentine, Simon (2008). Islam and the Ahmadiyya Jamaʻat: History, Belief, Practice. Columbia University Press. p. xv. ISBN 978-0-231-70094-8.
- ^ a b c Gualtieri, Antonio R. (1989). Conscience and Coercion: Ahmadi Muslims and Orthodoxy in Pakistan. Guernica Editions. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-920717-41-7.
- ^ Lathan, Andrea (2008). "The relativity of categorizing in the context of the Aḥmadiyya". Die Welt des Islams. 48 (3/4): 376. doi:10.1163/157006008X364749. JSTOR 27798273.
- ^ Preckel, Claudia (2013). "Screening Ṣiddīq Ḥasan Khān's Library: The use of Ḥanbalī literature in 19th century Bhopal". In Krawietz, B.; Tamer, G. (eds.). Islamic Theology, Philosophy and Law: Debating Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya. Berlin, DE: Walter de Gruyter. pp. 174, 208. ISBN 9783110285345.
- ^ Rafiq, B.A. (1978). Truth about Ahmadiyyat, Reflection of all the Prophets. London Mosque. ISBN 0-85525-013-5. Archived from the original on 8 January 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
- ^ a b Khan, Adil Hussain (2015). From Sufism to Ahmadiyya: A Muslim minority movement in south Asia. Indiana University Press. p. 50. ISBN 978-0253015297.
- ^ Awan, Samina (2009). "Redefinition of identities, subalterns and political Islam: A case of Majlis i Ahrar in Punjab". Journal of the Research Society of Pakistan. 46 (2): 188–189. Archived from the original on 12 July 2018. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
- ^ Friedmann, Yohanan (2003). Prophecy Continuous: Aspects of Ahmadi Religious Thought and Its Medieval Background. Oxford University Press. pp. 116–17, 121. ISBN 965-264-014-X.
- ^ Louis J., Hammann (1985). "Ahmaddiyyat - an introduction". Ahmadiyya Muslim Community [online]. Archived from the original on 11 June 2016. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
- ^ Geaves, Ron (2017). Islam and Britain: Muslim Mission in an Age of Empire. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 4. ISBN 978-1-4742-7173-8.
- ^ Jonker, Gerdien (2015). The Ahmadiyya Quest for Religious Progress: Missionizing Europe 1900–1965. Brill Publishers. ISBN 978-90-04-30529-8.