Today, 7th September 2024, marks the 50th anniversary of the infamous day when Pakistan constitutionally relegated the Ahmadiyya community as a non-Muslim minority. Incidentally, Ahmadiyya, a Muslim sect that was at the forefront of the creation of Pakistan, was (almost overnight) declared non-Muslim in Pakistan on the fateful day of 7th September 1974.  

Notably, the ‘Ahmadiyya question’ had been lingering among the Muslim community for nearly a century. However large-scale sectarian riots broke out in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in 1974. The incident unfolded after the youths of the Ahmadiyya community clashed with Islami Jamiat-i-Talaba (IJT — the student wing of the Jamaat-i-Islami). These clashes incidentally took place at the Rabwa railway station, which was predominantly an Ahmadiyya town. It also housed the community’s spiritual headquarters. 

According to a report in Dawn, an eyewitness (non-Ahmadiyya) told reporters that the incidents like the derogatory slogans against Ahmadiyyas and the retaliation were unprecedented. ‘Someone wanted this to happen,’ he said, without saying who that someone was, Dawn’s report added. 

Following the outbreak of riots and large-scale protests from radical Islamic organisations, the Pakistani Parliament succumbed. Its National Assembly finally decided to end the “Ahmadiyya question” once and for all. Accepting the demands of Islamist outfits, Pakistan officially excommunicated Ahmadiyyas from the fold of Islam, after initial reservations from the then-Pakistani PM Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who sent the issue to a committee. 

While the passage of the bill declaring Ahmadiyyas as non-Muslims ended the string of violence, it led to an exodus of a large number of Ahmadiyyas who were actively involved in the fields of business, science, teaching, and civil service. These prominent Ahmadiyyas began to leave Pakistan in large numbers and they left behind the less well-to-do members of the community who to date face ethnic persecution and spate of violence and harassment from followers of other sects of Islam.

Who are Ahmadiyyas, their role in the creation of Pakistan?

Ahmadiyya Community is a sect of Islam that is often persecuted in Islamic countries because Islamic nations believe that the community is not “Muslim enough”. The Ahmadiyya movement is said to be a modern and puritanical reformist Muslim movement that emerged after the complete fall of the Muslim Empire in India in the mid-1800s. 

The Ahmadiyya community was founded in 1889 by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. He claimed that he was under divine instruction to fulfil the major prophecies contained in Islamic and other sacred texts regarding a world reformer who would unite humanity. 

He announced to Christians awaiting the second coming of Jesus, Muslims anticipating the Mahdi, Hindus expecting Krishna, and Buddhists searching for Buddha, that he was the promised messiah for them all, commissioned by God to rejuvenate true faith.

However, after Mirza’s death, the Ahmadiyya split into two sects — the ‘Qadianis’ and the ‘Lahoris’. The Qadianis claimed that Mirza was a prophet. They accused all Muslims who did not accept him as being non-Muslims. 

It is pertinent to note that a majority of Muslims consider the claim of prophethood a major and unpardonable sin. Incidentally, the Lahori faction also believes that Mirza never claimed prophethood. 

Interestingly, several Muslim sects have levelled followers of other sects as being ‘bad Muslims’ (fakir) or outright heretics/infidels (kafir). 

Nonetheless, while the ongoing persecution of the Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan is tragic, it is indeed an internal problem of the Islamic community. With respect to the Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan, a fact that is lesser known is that the community was at the forefront of the creation of Pakistan.

One of the foremost advocates for Pakistan was Muhammad Zafrulla Khan who was an Ahmadiyya. 

The Lahore Resolution of 1940 was authored by Khan himself. Commenting on his role, one commentator wrote, “[T]here needs to be a realisation that Jinnah was the ‘lawyer’ for the case of Pakistan. He argued for it and won. However, Jinnah was never the visionary or a revolutionary strategic thinker to guide the course of the nation. If anybody at all in Muslim League was a strategic thinker, it was Sir Zafarullah Khan, who was also the author of the Lahore Resolution, which for the first time chalked out the idea of Pakistan. Khan, however, belonged to the then Islamic sect of Ahmadis and thus his role over the years was kept a secret, until recently when documents and letters written by Lord Linlithgow revealed the centrality of his role. Hence, there should be a little less stress on ‘Jinnah’s Pakistan’, because honestly, there is none; and scratching out Jinnah’s vision forcefully has only served to confuse the people and obfuscate the roadway to progress”.

According to the book, ‘Facts are Facts’ by Khan Abdul Wali Khan, Viceroy Lord Lithinglow sought Zafarullah Khan’s help who then studied the matter and brought a draft proposal for the partition of the country. The Viceroy wrote, “Upon my instruction, Zafarullah wrote a memorandum on the subject. Two Dominion States. I have already sent it to your attention. I have also asked him for further clarification, which, he says, is forthcoming. He is anxious, however, that no one should find out that he has prepared this plan. He has, however, given me the right to do with it what I like, including sending a copy to you. Copies have been passed on to Jinnah, and, I think, to Sir Akbar Hydari. While he, Zafarullah, cannot admit its authorship, his document has been prepared for adoption by the Muslim League, with a view to giving it the fullest publicity.”

Click here, to read more on how an Ahmadiyya Unit fought against India in Kashmir in 1947-48. 

Zafarullah Khan went on to become the first foreign minister of Pakistan. He also represented Pakistan at the United Nations on the Kashmir issue. Ultimately, he was forced to resign after the monster he had helped create devoured on his own people. He is even regarded by some as one of the founding fathers of Pakistan.

Not only the Zafarulla Khan but the Caliph of the Ahmadiyyas at the time, Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad, too, came out in great support for the creation of Pakistan. In the 1946 elections, he advised the Ahmadiyyas to vote for the All India Muslim League and support the demand for the creation of Pakistan on which the elections were fought.