Source: amer786.hubpages.com

Greetings! And may the peace and blessings of God Almighty be upon you.

This is the third in a series of Hubs on what I offer to rebuke as grave misconceptions propagated against The Ahmadiyya movement in Islam.

I offer argument of fact (with reference) and substantive logic. Verdict and judgment, I leave between you and God Almighty. This Hub is about the frequently leveled accusation that The Ahmaddiyya Movement in Islam was seeded by The British Empire who ruled India at the time. They apparently would do this to quash the notions of an Islamic Jihad that were brewing at the time and could serve as a threat to their authority. Interwoven into this subject is also the accusation that the holy founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (peace be on him), had abrogated a core religious obligation to wage Jihad to serve in mitigating this threat for the British.

First I will cover some historical events and then the theology of Jihad as dictated by The Holy Quran and the views of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (pbuh). An event that is often brought up with this subject is the what is known as the The Mutiny of 1857against the British in India. However, there is earlier historical context to the discussion. In order to grasp the subject better I will begin with the advent of what has come to be known as the sect or movement of Wahabism in Islam. As you read along, it will become apparent why this is important.

Wahabism, The Sauds and The British

This photo reportedly shows Muhammad Abd Al-Wahab hosted by the Sauds of Arabia

Wahabism, as it has come to be known today, was founded by Abd-al Wahab in the town of Nejd, Egypt around the late eighteenth century. The Wahabis saw, and probably still see, Islam as infested with corrupt ideology, ritual and ceremony that has deviated from its true and original form. They sought to restore it to its original form.

Abdul Wahab also claimed that his Islamic movement was the 73^rd sect that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had prophesized that would appear in the latter days and will be the only one in a highly divided Islamic following that will be on the right path—a competing claim with the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam.

When the Wahabis ascended to power in Nejd around the late 17^th century they put Mecca and Medina in their sights. They requested to go there to perform pilgrimage but were denied entry upon which they forced themselves there in conquest. Given their urgency to restore Islam to its pure form they took to tearing down tombs and shrines of some of the holiest figures of Islam to restore the concept of Tauheed or unity of God Almighty associating no partners or intercessors with Him. The shrines had apparently become centers of worship.

The Muslim world at the time was furious over the actions.

The Muslim powers of the time, centered in Turkey with the Ottoman Empire, took it upon themselves to recapture Mecca and Medina back from the Wahabis. A bitter enmity arose between the Turks and the followers of Abdul Wahab. The Sauds and The British, eager to take down the Turkish occupiers of Arabia would have taken notice. The Wahabis at the time are also believed to have taken up collaboration with another like-minded movement out of Egypt known as Ikhwan-ul-Muslemeen or The Muslim Brotherhood. Both movements believed in the undertaking of Jihad as a holy war to overcome infidels and opponents of Islam. Their common ideology did not spare other so-called Muslims in their view. Their view is known to prioritize internal cleansing of the Islamic world before the non-Muslim world can be taken up. The modern day terrorist-duo of the late Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri can be seen as a picture of the common ideologies of Wahabism and The Muslim Brotherhood respectively.

Osama Bin Laden is said to have had The House of Saud in his cross-hairs who he probably believed to be sold out to Infidel powers. Scores of books and documentaries have been chronicled on this alliance and western commentators have also frowned upon this political affiliation given what they see as the roots of religious extremism and the resulting acts of terrorism. But, given this historical bond, Wahabi figures in history took caution not to label any resistance to the British as a Jihad. Wahabis reportedly made their way to India in the early 19^th century sowing the seeds of their new-found brand of resurgent Islam.

On the Saudi flag, the Wahabi creed places a sword below the Islamic Declaration of Faith: “There are no Gods but Allah, and Muhammad is His Messenger”.

The Indian Mutiny of 1857, NOT a Jihadi Uprising

In the year 1857, a cataclysmic revolt against the Raj or rule of the British in India shook the country and its occupiers. It is also known as the Sepoy Mutiny given… read the rest @ amer786.hubpages.com