Years ago, people would have assumed a sectarian murder in Glasgow was a product of the Orange-Green divide – perhaps an overspill from the Ulster Troubles, or football hooliganism by RC Celtic supporters against Protestant Rangers’ fans or vice versa.
Few, if any, would have identified it with the murder of a member of the Ahmadiyya sect by a Sunni Muslim – but this is the face of modern Britain.
Violent forms of Islam
In March, Glasgow shopkeeper Asad Shah, an Ahmadi originally from Pakistan, was brutally murdered by Tanveer Ahmed, a Sunni Muslim in a premeditated act of fanatical determination – Ahmed travelled 200 miles from Bradford to Glasgow to kill Shah, and was found laughing, seated on Shah’s mutilated corpse. The motive was nakedly sectarian – Ahmed’s statement was blunt: ‘Asad Shah disrespected … the Prophet Muhammad … the Prophet of Islam … has clearly said that “I am the final messenger of Allah there is no more prophets or messengers from God Allah after me…” … in the Qur’an that there is no doubt … no one has the right to disrespect the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad… no one has the right to disrespect the Prophet of Islam…’
The Ahmadis
Shah referred to Muhammad being ‘the final messenger’, a fundamental belief in mainstream Islam. Ahmadis are held to violate this by their belief that their founder, Ghulam Mirza Ahmed (1835–1908), was in some sense a prophet: ‘… a new prophet may appear but only if he adheres to and revives the law of the Holy Prophet…’. Ahmadis reject the idea that parts of the Qur’an ‘abrogate’ others, and they interpret the miracles of Jesus therein metaphorically, e.g. He raised people from the ‘deadness’ of sin, and ‘healed’ people from unbelief, etc. They generally interpret Jihad spiritually. Unlike mainstream Muslims, who await a descendant of Muhammad called the Mahdi who will subject the world to Islam, distinguished from Jesus, Ahmadis believe that their founder is simultaneously the Mahdi and the Second Coming of Christ – they often refer to him as ‘the Promised Messiah’.
Because of these distinctives, mainstream Muslims view Ahmadis as Evangelicals do Mormons. There is one massive difference: we do not persecute and murder Mormons. In Pakistan, Ahmadis are forbidden to call themselves Muslims (and thereby denied the right to do Haj), and to call their meetingplaces ‘mosques’. Ahmadis are very mission-minded, and in Britain they can be seen on high streets with book tables; in Pakistan, they are forbidden to proselytise. The infamous Blasphemy law, often invoked against Christians, is also frequently used against Ahmadis. They regularly face murderous attacks – even pogroms, often incited by Sunni clerics, during which the police do nothing. This led to their Khalifa moving their international HQ to Britain, and many Ahmadis have also come here to enjoy the religious liberty – and security – denied to them in their homeland.
Good people
The UK Ahmadi community is a model of loyalty and upward mobility. They display allegiance to the Queen, emphasise obedience to the law of the land, and actively encourage good inter-faith relations (as was seen in Shah’s Easter greetings to ‘my beloved Christian nation’), while maintaining their proselytising activities. Ahmadis place a great emphasis on education, and are usually professional people, such as doctors and engineers. They raise much money for mainstream charities, such as Great Ormond Street Hospital. Whatever our religious differences with Ahmadis, we should acknowledge that they are a respectable, peaceful community.
No action taken
Some mainstream Muslims harass Ahmadi book-table missionaries with threatening language. In 2010, The Independent reported that the Ummah Channel had been censured by OFCOM ‘for repeatedly calling the sect “Wajib-ul Qatal” – an Arabic phrase … that translates as “liable for death”’. In the four schools of Sunni-Islamic Law, the penalty for apostasy is execution. A 2012 Guardian article claimed that the group was behind an anti-Ahmadi leaflet distributed in Wandsworth stating that apostates should be executed.
Yet there have been no reports of prosecutions by the police – a dangerous echo of the situation in Pakistan, albeit perhaps influenced by political correctness rather than Sunni sectarianism. Local Ahmadis report that they are very scared and amazed that Shah’s murder could occur in 21st-century Britain.
Modern Britain?
This should disturb us all. If Ahmadis in Britain can be attacked with impunity, could the next lethal assault be against a Hindu Temple, synagogue, Gurdwara – or church? There have already been attacks on churches in the north of England, and violence against Christians at Hyde Park. This, as stated earlier, is the face of modern Britain.
