Yet in the West, Ahmadi spokesmen like the oleaginous Harris Zafar, nauseatingly brimming with ostentatious, showy piety, and the arrogant Qasim Rashid, hiding the emptiness and fallaciousness of his Islamic apologetics behind a furious contempt for anyone who dares question him, carry water for the same Islamic supremacists who would cheerfully destroy their homes and places of worship if they were in Pakistan. Instead, Zafar and Rashid target those who stand up for the Ahmadis and decry their persecution, carrying water for their own oppressors.
“Briton jailed in Pakistan for ‘posing as Muslim’ tells of ordeal,” by Athar Ahmad, BBC, April 25, 2014 (thanks to Twostellas):
A British man jailed for “posing as a Muslim”, has spoken for the first time since returning to the UK.
Masud Ahmad, 73, was arrested in Pakistan in November under blasphemy laws but fled while on bail.
The 73-year-old is part of the minority Ahmadiyya sect, who are considered heretics in Pakistan.
They were declared non-Muslim in 1974 by the Pakistan government because of their belief in a subservient prophet after Muhammad.
One of the restrictions on their religious freedom is that they cannot publicly recite the Koran.
Late last year, a young man posing as a patient visited Mr Ahmad at his homeopathy clinic in Lahore, before asking questions about religion.
“I have no business talking about religious beliefs when I am working, I am only here to help people. But he kept pushing the topic into matters about Islam”, Mr Ahmad said.
The man then used a mobile phone to secretly film Mr Ahmad reading the Koran and called the police to have him arrested.
Educated in Britain, Mr Ahmad first came to the UK in the 1960s, where he set up his own watch repair business, before returning to Pakistan in 1982.
The grandfather-of-nine, now living with his children in Glasgow, was placed in a jail with other prisoners also charged under the country’s blasphemy law.
He said: “It was a small cell, 8ft by about 12ft and within it a toilet. We had to sleep on the floor. The temperature was almost minus one degree in the night.”
About 400 people protested outside the police station in which Mr Ahmad was being held, demanding to see him.
He said: “They were shouting and chanting, ‘let us kill him, let us kill him’. But I wasn’t scared.”
Members of the Ahmadiyya community helped Mr Ahmad flee the country after he was granted bail at a third attempt.
It is understood no travel restrictions were put in place by police and as a dual Pakistani-British national, he was able to return to the UK.
Escaping the country quickly meant he was only able to take one small suitcase and the prayer hat he was wearing when arrested.
“I’m still a wanted man in Pakistan as I was only given bail. Ahmadis are treated like animals, I can’t go back. The Mullahs (religious clerics) are grinding their teeth, wondering how I could escape them,” he said.
“Ahmadis can be jailed for up to three years in Pakistan for referring to their faith as Islam, preaching or “outraging the religious feelings of Muslims.”
The country has a history of taking claims of blasphemy particularly seriously.
Last month, a Christian road sweeper was sentenced to death after being convicted of using derogatory remarks against the Prophet Muhammad in a row with a Muslim friend.
In 2011, the governor of Pakistan’s Punjab province, Salman Taseer, was killed after being shot by one of his bodyguards.
Many were angered by the 66-year-old’s defence of Asia Bibbi, a Christian woman sentenced to death under the country’s blasphemy law.
As a result of such incidents, Mr Ahmad’s 20-year-old granddaughter, Madiha, was concerned about how her grandfather had been coping in prison.
She said: “He’d been recovering from cancer, he’s 73 years old. A jail like that is no place for someone like him to be. We were over here and so didn’t know how he was.”
The university student said she had also suffered discrimination in Pakistan because of her religious beliefs, but believed that things would one day change.
“They are going to pay for this, of course they are. Because they are just doing bad to people who have done nothing to them. We have never said one word of hatred to them,” she said.
Having returned to the UK after 32 years, Mr Ahmad is now trying to establish a new life for himself in Scotland.
“Glasgow’s nice. The weather’s sometimes hard to get used to – it rains, then it’s sunny, then it rains again. But it is a very nice place”, he said.
“Pakistan is my motherland and you will always love your mother. But I have a freedom here which is very essential. I love my country but I can’t go back. If I go back, I will be put in prison or murdered.”
Angemon says
“The 73-year-old is part of the minority Ahmadiyya sect, who are considered heretics in Pakistan.”
Which sects of islam don’t see Ahmadi as herectics? Ahmadis consider their founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, a prophet, and orthodox islam considers muhammad to be the final prophet, meaning that no other prophet is to come after him. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia may be the only countries who officially don’t recognize ahmadi as muslims (Saudi Arabia going as far as to prevent them from making the pilgrimage to Mecca), but the issue is that they’re considered heretics by islamic orthodoxy, not in Pakistan alone like the article suggests.
Mirren10 says
It’s the BBC. They will never criticise *islam* itself.
Jay Boo says
So true
Whenever a story gets to big for them to ignore — they divert.
They mention ‘extremists’ but never examine their beliefs.
But to have us overlook BBC’s lack of thoroughness BBC will do a convoluted dance around Islam ending with a (hard-hitting) examination of the competence and dissect any political issues of those confronting Islamists.
For Example:
Why does a BBC story on Nigeria end up discussing the fiscal policies of Goodluck Jonathan and the competence of military pursuing Boko Haram
mortimer says
Somehow in the 1970s, Muslims got the idea that if they made their countries carbon copies of the Saudi utopia (only stricter), that all would be well.
What they are learning is that jihad, chaos and instability are the result. They are discovering that a jihadic world war isn’t all that it’s touted to be. War on a grand scale leads to atrocities, demolition, diseases and extreme poverty and an aftermath of 20 years to rebuild.
Angemon says
“Somehow in the 1970s, Muslims got the idea that if they made their countries carbon copies of the Saudi utopia (only stricter), that all would be well.”
They lack the special Saudi sauce that keeps everything into place: oil.
defcon 5 says
Soddy Barbaria is also a totalitarian, theocratic monarchy that a huge underclass of foreign workers who have no rights whatsoever.
Jay Boo says
“outraging the religious feelings of Muslims.”
Islam would not exist but for VANITY
john spielman says
and for SATAN!
Jay Boo says
Those who open their hearts seek God.
Those who rage against infidels prefer to bump their heads on the floor attempting to dig a pit into hell in effort to seek Satan.
defcon 5 says
But are the Ahmadi all on board w/islam’s rabid, pervasive and delusional Jew hatred? What about the xenophobia? What about their regard for the najjis kaffr? Are the najjis kaffir to be pushed to the “narrowest” part of the road? Are they to be subjugated and humiliated? What parts of islam0nazi dogma to the Amadhi renounce/repudiate?
Mirren10 says
Are you also defcon4 ?
Re the Ahmadi, I believe the only differences are the Ahmadi believe there was another ‘prophet’ after mohammed, and they don’t believe in establishing islam through **violent** means.
Apart from the two caveats above, they’re on board with all the rest of the evil shiite.
Angemon says
Pretty much. Besides considering their founder a prophet (orthodox islam considers muhammad to be the final prophet) they have a generally non-violent interpretation of jihad and only permit fighting in self-defense, to punish aggressors and to ensure the freedom to convert to Islam. In fact, the ahmadi hold violent jihad to be unnecessary in time of peace such as what India enjoyed under British rule, when the ahmadi movement started.
Jay Boo says
Briton jailed in Pakistan for ‘posing as Muslim’
Islam should be outlawed for ‘posing as religion’
mary dolan says
Islam is not a religion. It is a philosophy; a doctrine based on fanaticism and rooted in abject evil. It prays on the profoundly ignorant and turns them into rabid subhumans. Its followers are the scourge of the planet.
Jaladhi says
Usually, to be in Islam is a one way street, once you get in, you can never come out alive – and if you insist on coming out they will kill you!! Plain and simple. In that case Ahmadis have such a great opportunity to get out of this murderous cult. They should say good bye to Islam and be anything else but a Muslim. Even when Muslims don’t accept them as Muslims , why do they still insist on being a Muslim? Some thing is wrong here in their reasoning for being a Muslim. Get out and be free !!