The largest mosque in Japan opened its doors on November 20 near the central Japanese city of Nagoya, heralding a new chapter in the East Asian nation’s relationship with Islam. Islam has never made more than a marginal impact on Japan, although the history of Japanese relations with Muslims stretches back further than most people imagine, the Japanese included.
“Are these the people with bullets who took my papa away?” two-year-old Sabiha Ahmad asked her mother anxiously when AFP visited her family, members of Pakistan’s persecuted Ahmadi minority, who are currently living in hiding. The toddler’s family have had little contact with anyone since they were forced to flee for their lives on November 20 when hundreds of people torched a factory in the eastern city of Jhelum after rumours spread workers were burning copies of the Koran. Sabiha’s …
An American University Professor has exposed a Pakistani University’s secret hiring policy that prohibits hiring of Ahmadiyya Muslims. The professor is a member of an external committee that reviews applications of faculty candidates at Pakistani Universities.
November, 27, 2015 — It was pitch dark at 2:30am in the morning. The only sounds that Imran* could hear were coming from the factory that was set ablaze a kilometer away, and the slogans against Imran and the rest of the Ahmadi community in Jehlum. I was almost whispering, convincing my fellow Ahmadis to come out of hiding and show themselves to me, so that I could take them to a safe distance but there was no response, Imran …
A group of masked men set fire to Christian Television Channel Gawahi TV in Pakistani port city of Karachi overnight. The attackers fled as the building collapsed due to the fire. According to employees, the arson attack occurred at 2.30am (local time). The fire destroyed entire complex including studios, computers, Bibles and cable network equipment.
My family moved to Lahore in early 1970s. We rented the lower portion of a house in what was still called Kirshan Nagar, despite being renamed Islampura, probably after the 1965 war. It was an old style house with an open central courtyard. There were two front rooms both having an opening onto the street. The owners lived in the upper portion but they purposefully kept one of those front rooms. They would hold a weekly religious gathering in that …
Welcome, to the beautiful land of the pure. Here, we are blessed with four wondrous seasons and the geographical features are aplenty. This is a land hard won through the sacrifices of many and now, you too, are a part of this nation of the free. There is only one small hitch. You are Ahmadi, and life will be slightly more difficult for you than it is for the rest of the citizens of this country.
A mob torched the homes of several Ahmadiyya families and an Ahmadiyya Mosque in Pakistan’s Jhelum district on Saturday. The incident came just a day after a mob burnt down a factory owned by Ahmadiyya Muslims in the same area. The Mosque which is located in Kala Gujran area of Jhelum was being guarded by local police when the mob broke through the security cordon, which was established to safeguard the Mosque, following Friday night’s unrest.
An angry mob set ablaze a factory owned by members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Jhelum on Friday. Around 2,000 people surrounded Pakistan Chipboard Factory on GT Road in Jhelum city on Friday night after announcements were made on loudspeakers in nearby mosques that a factory employee had allegedly desecrated the Quran. Following the announcements people from not immediate vicinity but even from nearby villages gathered as a mob and set ablaze the chipboard factory. The owner’s residence, adjoining …
The World Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, the Fifth Khalifa (Caliph) of Islam, His Holiness, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad has condemned last night’s terrorist attacks in Paris. Speaking from London, His Holiness, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad said: “On behalf of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community worldwide, I express my heartfelt sympathies and condolences to the French nation, its people and government following the heinous terrorist attacks that have taken place in Paris. This brutal and inhumane attack can only be …
The former Imam of the State House mosque Alhagie Abdoulie Fatty, has had his Passport impounded by the Gambia’s National Intelligence Agency, (the NIA). Imam Fatty played was a key player in the anti-Ahmadiyya campaign in the country. The move followed a Presidential directive—instructing the NIA to seize Imam Fatty’s passport. Fatty is being investigated by the NIA on allegations of misleading dictator Yahya Jammeh on issues relating to the Muslim Community.
Pakistani actor, Hamza Ali Abbasi, is always in the headlines for one reason or another. Recently, I wrote an article criticising his comments that apparently belittled Pakistan’s minorities. However, this time I am writing to congratulate him on supporting Pakistan’s minority Muslim communities – or at least those that self-identify as such.