In recent times, Muslims in America have been at the receiving end of much hate and bigotry. As such, it is significant that the Muslim community is represented at such events of national importance.

The average American might perceive the Muslim American community as a homogeneous group, but American Muslims are a diverse ― and fast growing ― community comprising of individuals from various sects, ethnicities, races and nationalities. We share immense similarities and face common challenges, including the recent rise in Islamophobia. However, just as in Christianity, most followers of Islam identify with specific denominations that all have some distinctive interpretations of Scripture.

I, for instance, belong to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community ― the world’s single largest Muslim Community united under one leader and one of America’s oldest Muslim organizations. I am a Pakistani American who immigrated to the United States in search of security.

Ahmadi Muslims face brutal persecution at the hands of the State and clergy in Pakistan. Many Sunni Muslim clerics regularly call for the banishment, boycott, continued oppression and even killing of Ahmadis. Anti-Ahmadi hate conferences are commonplace and are considered an important part of the Sunni tradition in Pakistan. These conferences are led by prominent Sunni clerics from across the country, with the Shia clergy also abetting the hatred time and again.

Instead of protecting the Ahmadi Muslims, the State endorses this bigotry.

In an attempt to appease the far right, the Pakistani State declared the Ahmadi Muslims a “non-Muslim minority” through the Second Amendment to its Constitution in 1974. Ten years later in 1984, a presidential ordinance criminalized their profession of Islam. Hundreds of Ahmadi Muslims have since been jailed for saying the Kalima (Islamic creed professing the unity of God, and truth of Prophet Muhammad), reading the Quran, saying the Salam, Adhan (call to prayer), referring to their place of worship as a Mosque and themselves as Muslim. And now clerics are demanding Ahmadi Muslims be thrown in jail for reciting the Durood (a prayer for the Prophet) as well.

Consider this: I can be jailed for three years under Pakistani law for writing this article that refers to the Ahmadis as Muslims.

Imagine that Donald Trump’s anti-Muslim bigotry materializes, and the state honors this Islamophobia by making it part of the country’s law and Constitution. Imagine Christianity being represented by the likes of Newt Gingrich and Terry Jones. This is the cruelty Ahmadi Muslims are subjected to in Pakistan at the hands of clergy. Most other Sunni-majority countries also restrict the religious freedom of Ahmadi Muslims. This systemic hatred has been transported around the globe as well, with anti-Ahmadi hate conferences commonplace in some Sunni communities in the West.

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