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LIRANEWS.COM | In a simple meeting room in Qadian, Punjab, India—the birthplace of the Ahmadiyya movement—Naseem Saifi, a renowned Ahmadi figure, once issued a stern challenge:
“Try to show me, what have been achieved by those (clerics) who are hostile to Ahmadiyah? Have they achieved any results, or have they been able to stem the influx of people into Ahmadiyah? Clearly, they have failed. Even if a thousand and one kinds of books were published against Ahmadiyah, they would definitely fail!” (Naseem Saifi, Our Movement , p. 8).
The challenge is not merely rhetoric. In many countries, from South Asia to Europe, the Ahmadiyya present an organized, orderly, and modern face of Islam. They claim not to deviate “even a hair” from the Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad. In his rebuttal to Ustadz Bakry Wahid’s criticism, Saleh A. Nahdi wrote that the Ahmadiyya uphold the same pillars of Islam and the same pillars of faith as Muslims (Saleh A. Nahdi, Ahmadiyah Rebuts Ustadz Bakry Wahid’s Accusations , 1972, p. 4).
However, these similarities were presented through fresh communication strategies: translating the Quran into world languages—English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, and even Persian; building mosques in Europe, America, and Africa; and publishing free books on comparative Islamic religion and economics. “Excellent and dazzling,” wrote Abdullah Hasan Alhadar in Ahmadiyah Naked on the Stage of History (1980).
New Strategy, New Face
According to the observation of Mohammad Iqbal, the great Islamic poet from India, local clerics failed to penetrate the “inner core” of the Ahmadiyya because they relied solely on theological arguments (Syed Abdul Wahid, Thoughts and Reflections of Iqbal , p. 269). Religiously based criticisms led the Ahmadiyya to change tactics: they closed off debate about the status of their founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, and emphasized social work in the name of Islam.
This change of heart has received positive attention from some orientalists. HAR Gibb, professor of Arabic at Oxford and Harvard, described the Ahmadiyya as a movement that “actively opposes the spread of Christianity in South Africa as well as in the East and West” (Gibb, Modern Currents in Islam , 1954, p. 77).
But critics see this praise as having political implications. Alhadar believes that Western sympathy for the Ahmadiyya has the potential to “fertilize the seeds of division and disruption of the faith” because of the Ahmadiyya’s claim to be “illa wahidah”—the only group of the 73 Muslim sects that will enter heaven ( Sinar Islam Magazine , 15th/1965).
Indonesia: Fertile Fields
In Indonesia, nearly every major city has an Ahmadiyah branch. While the movement is slow to develop, its spread is steady. In Kayu Manis, a village near Cirebon, nearly the entire population adheres to this faith. They preach through informal discussions, home visits, and dialogues on campuses.
According to Abdullah Hasan Alhadar’s report, this method succeeded in planting the seeds of Ahmadiyya influence. “They distinguished themselves with mosques, madrasas, polyclinics, and libraries,” he wrote.
Even senior journalist Syu’bah Asa once noted the importance of the Ahmadiyah in the history of Islamic thought in Indonesia. “More important than presenting the Ahmadiyah teachings in comparison with opposing Muslim ideologies is the effort to document the development of religious thought in Indonesia… where the Ahmadiyah teachings have a palpable imprint, even though they are almost never mentioned” ( Tempo , September 24, 1974).
Between Preaching and Controversy
For some, the Ahmadiyya community represents a modern, organized, and responsive Islam that addresses global challenges. However, for its critics, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad’s theological claims remain a “red line” that cannot be erased through social work alone.
The question, as Alhadar posed: is it possible for Muslims to ignore the titles and prophetic claims of their founder, while Ahmadis themselves internalize all these accusations?
The answer to this question may determine whether Ahmadiyah will continue to be accepted as part of the diversity of Islam, or remain a movement that sparks long debates on the stage of history.
source https://liranews.com/ahmadiyah-di-indonesia-antara-pujian-barat-dan-kecurigaan-umat/