The minority has been under constant attack even though it keeps a low profile. DESIGN: SAMAD SIDDIQUI
KARACHI: On a Friday afternoon, there is pin-drop silence around the Ahmadi place of worship in Karachi’s Drigh Road area. Worshippers quietly enter through a side door, watched over by a number of men on patrol and security cameras affixed to the building.
Just down the lane, the imam of Bilal Masjid peppers his sermon with anti-Ahmadi remarks. The strains of his sermon can be heard throughout the neighbourhood, including the men standing guard outside their place of worship.
Friday prayers are under way in both buildings, but only one congregation is allowed to practice its faith openly.
At the crossroads of the mosque and the place of worship is a marker for the ‘Khatm-e-Nabuwwat’ roundabout, a silent but potent public reminder of the power of the religio-political party in Pakistan. “There was a rally here a few months ago,” recalls a resident. “About 2,000 people attended and it was organised by the Tahaffuz Namoos-e-Risalat movement. They reaffirmed their faith in the finality of the Prophethood (peace be upon him), and then decided to rename this roundabout as a memento of the rally. After all, we are all Muslims, this is our faith.”
Sunni Tehreek (ST) flags flutter in the area, whose walls are covered with grafitti, declaring the area to be Sunni Nagar. “These clerics, Sunni Tehreek… they’re all one and the same,” remarks a shopkeeper who has worked near the Ahmadi place of worship for 25 years. He has witnessed the area’s clerics raging against the Ahmadiyya community for placing barricades near their place of worship. There have been incidents of firing in the area as well. Thoughtfully, he says, “The problem is that Muslims have increasingly become intolerant.”
A poster for a June 2 Tahaffuz Namoos-e-Risalat conference is still plastered to the wall of the Ahmadis’ building. A few months ago, activists reportedly barged in and demanded that the Kalima, a verse declaring Muslim faith, be erased from a wall within the place of worship’s premises.
“This centre has been here since before you or I were born,” says the shopkeeper. Another resident said it was at least 40 years old.
Attendance at prayers at Ahmadi places of worship in Karachi has slowly picked up after the 2010 Lahore attacks. “We have stopped women and children from coming to the centres because we fear that they will be targeted first, similar to the Lahore attacks,” says Masood Khan, a senior representative of the Ahmadiyya community. “Praying is also difficult and it gets quite suffocating – we have to close all the windows and doors so that no sound can be heard outside.”
Outside is where a mob — literally and physically —exists. Just like the cleric at Bilal Masjid, mosque speakerphones are regularly used to incite hatred.
Categories: Pakistan
I recall, in seventies, when, I used to visit this worship place it was so calm and peaceful. All the neighbors were also tolerant and nice. In fact the things started deteriorating the most after the promulgation of anti-ahmaiyya ordinance of 1984. From that day onwards, religious intolerance and extremism has ruptured the very fabric of Pakistani Society and it is so unfortunate that now even very enterprising segment of Pakistani society has also been thrown into same psyche. Any way I am still optimistic. Gradually realisation is emerging that Political and Military Elite of this country has committed some blunder at some point. To me this was in 1974 and in 1984. The day this nation will repeal the anti-ahmadiyya law and ordinance, I can assure it will start a new journey towards peace and prosperity. May Allah enable them to realise this fact at an early date. ameen
This ‘worship place’ or ‘this mosque’? It is nice of you to be optimistic, but are there any real signs yet of a ‘change of heart’?
When I used to visit it was like Namaz Centre and not a proper mosque with minarets. Even the main centre of Karachi was called as Ahmadiyya Hall. As such word worship place has been used. I know we call each worship place of ours as mosque but in classical term it was not.
Despite victimization, discrimination, targeting and abuse; the members of Jamaat Ahamadiyya have shown a remarkable tolerance and have never been seen protesting the way often observed in the society. It is an example how peace loving and law abiding societies should interact.