To be an Ahmadi is a crime in Pakistan

The other day JuD held a rally in Satellite Town near Holy Family Hospital, Rawalpindi. The purpose of this rally was to protest against the unconstitutional activities of Ahmadis.

Ahmadis are the most peaceful community on earth. Do you think I exaggerate by calling them ‘the most peaceful community on earth’? If so; please see the heart-wrenching videos (I am quite sure you would not be able to completely watch this clip) when Ahmadis were brutally pelted with stones, bamboos and iron-rods to deaths by an unfettered and inhumane mob in Indonesia, but in reciprocation Ahmadis did not show any form of violence; please recall the afternoon of 28th May, 2010 when nearly a hundred of Ahmadis were massacred in the prayer halls of their mosques (I know if I were in Pakistan, I would have been charged under the law because of using the word ‘mosque’), but they bore this irreparable loss with extreme patience and without showing any kind of ferocity by way of retaliation. Have you ever heard of Ahmadis going out on streets carrying placards with disgusting remarks about those who have a long history of persecuting Ahmadis? Have they ever marched on to a ‘madrasah’ – which could very excusably be called a hub of hate against them? There is not even a single example which could convince me to call Ahmadis otherwise.

What, then, are the unconstitutional activities Ahmadis are alleged to have been involved in a building in Rawalpindi? You know Ahmadis say their prayers in that building. Is saying prayers in a building unconstitutional?

Yes it is! There is a law which makes it unconstitutional. You wonder, how? Please read the lines below;

“Any person of the Quadiani group or the Lahori group (who call themselves ‘Ahmadis’ or by any other name) who directly or indirectly, poses himself as a Muslim, or calls, or refers to, his faith as Islam, or preaches or propagates his faith, by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representations, or in any manner whatsoever outrages the religious feelings of Muslims, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine.(Ordinance XX – 1984)”

These lines are part of our law.

How ironic it is when my Muslim brethren see Ahmadis (declared non-Muslims by the state) worship Allah, it causes an outrage in their feelings and if Ahmadis would not do so, my Muslim brethren are at peace.

But why to fret about a rally of JuD against Ahmadis while these fanatics have every right to call on protests against the activities of Ahmadis. This law has incapacitated Ahmadis in so far as their presence in the country is unlawful.

Posing to be a Muslim

I know, as being an Ahmadi, I am a criminal of the state for I did almost everything (with the exception of killing masses carrying guns in my hands and spreading hate, which may be a criterion for some scholars to judge someone’s faith in Islam) which made me look like a Muslim. In fact, I have been a criminal of my state since I was born because I was circumcised. This is nothing to laugh about. I think undergoing a circumcision would make me look like a Muslim, wouldn’t it? But thanks to the ignorance of Mullahs who, unlike Maya Khan or Shamoon Abbasi, did not know the art of setting their cameras to snoop around me in order to find out whether I underwent circumcision or not, otherwise I would have been (constitutionally) liable to imprisonment for my whole life. Yes! for whole life. For you can’t undo circumcision, can you?

Hence I find no reason to censure the participants of such rallies where they gather to protest against those who either intentionally or unintentionally do not abide by the law, rather defy it by their practices. While the Pakistani people’s desire to defend and enforce their constitution should not be scorned at, the constitution itself, which makes the lives of Ahmadis hellish, should be reviled and annulled.

Very honestly asserting, I don’t want you to curse those who say Ahmadis should stop their activities, but I want you to curse this law which endangers every moment of my life in Pakistan, which puts me behind bars for saying ‘assalamo alaikum’ to my fellows, which imprisons me for saying my Namaz, which puts me in handcuffs for doing a thousand similar things.

If Maya Khan has no right to meddle with others’ affairs, then why the heck my state would jail me for believing in a faith I find so rational? If Shamoon Abbasi has no right to intrude in the lives of gays and lesbians, then why the heck there should be any law restraining me from worshipping Allah and believing in the Holy Prophet (PBUH)?