Indian government has rightly included Ahmadis as a Muslim sect in its census for the first time in its history. Even though Ahmadis in India, numbering a little less than 100,000, were never declared non-Muslim as they were in Pakistan in 1974, under the influence of Deoband, government of India had shied away from including their name in the list of Muslim sects. If this has indeed been undertaken by the Hindu nationalist BJP government, it is smart politics on their part. At a time when the caste Hindu majority in India was under pressure from a joint Dalit and Muslim front, they have managed to lay bare the inherent contradictions of Muslims for the world to see. Predictably, Muslim leadership in India has reacted badly by attacking what is a principled decision as anti-Muslim. Instead of embracing Ahmadis as part of their community, political opportunists like Asaduddin Owaisi have walked into a trap where they stand exposed as bigots.

Rewind 70 odd years and the Muslim leadership in India was in the hands of Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Repeatedly, extremist mullahs, especially those who supported the Congress, attacked Jinnah for having Ahmadis in the Muslim League. Jinnah’s clear and unambiguous answer was that anyone who called himself a Muslim was a Muslim. He realised that raising doctrinal issues would sound a death knell for the unity of Muslims, and would only marginalise minority sects within the community. As a Shia himself, Jinnah refused to sacrifice any section of Muslims in the name of religion. Ahmadis were amongst his closest lieutenants, and he was undeterred on the point regardless of opposition from various sections. The Ahmadis in turn gave their all to the Muslim League. It must be remembered that it was Zafrullah Khan from the Ahmadi community who was handpicked by Jinnah to present the Muslim case before the Boundary Commission at the time of partition. The Ahmadi community itself voted as one bloc for the Muslim League in 1946 elections on the order of their spiritual leader, Bashiruddin Mahmud.

It must also be taken into account that Jinnah at no point envisaged a permanent divorce between his “Pakistan” and rest of India. His stated maximum goal was a federation of… read more at dailytimes.com.pk