by Arsen Ostrovsky

Such slaughter, however, does not occur in a vacuum. It is the direct result of a pervasive state-sponsored, indoctrinated hate – with a nation using all the force of both its exchequer and communications infrastructure to incite violence. The United Nations has been totally oblivious to the plight of the Ahmadis: it has failed to pass even a single resolution at the Security Council, General Assembly or Human Rights Council.

Rejected by many in the Islamic world as heretics and routinely persecuted because their more moderate beliefs do not accord with mainstream Islamic interpretations of the Quran, the Ahmadiyya Muslim community is arguably one of the most persecuted Muslim communities in the world. However, beyond some faint pleas for better treatment from the U.S. State Department and human rights groups, the Ahmadi Muslims plight has largely gone unnoticed.

The Ahmadi Muslims trace their roots to the late nineteenth century, when the movement was founded in 1889 by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, in the Punjabi village of Qadian, now modern day India.

They share many of the basic tenets of Islam, however differ in some significant respects.

For one, the Ahmadi Muslims condemn the use of terror and reject any attempt to spread Islam through violence or coercion. According to Naseem Mahdi, national Vice President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in the U.S., “there is no place or justification found in Islam for violence whatsoever,” and that “Islam condemns terrorism unreservedly and totally.”

The Ahmadi Muslims are also one of the few Islamic organizations to endorse a separation of Mosque and State; they believe individuals must be both “righteous souls as well as loyal citizens.” Mahdi says that “Islam requires all Muslims to live in peace and harmony wherever they may be,” and that “it is thus the duty and responsibility of all Muslims living in the U.S. to be loyal to the flag and to be law-abiding citizens.”

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