Letters to Editor

Belief of Ahmadiyyas
Annie Habib, Stuttgart, Germany

There has been much misunderstanding about the true belief of Ahmadiyyas because of one-sided propaganda against them.

The Ahmadiyyas believe in all the tenets of Islam and is spread over almost 180 countries of the world, having 200 million members, and preach Islam in a most rational and peaceful way. They believe in Holy Prophet Mohammad (SM) as the last Prophet in the sense that there will be no new sharia after him. It is inferred from the Holy Quran, Hadith and writings from earlier Muslim divines that the promised reformer (Imam Mahdi) of the latter age would be an ‘ummati’ (follower) of the Prophet not bringing any new law and not discarding any teachings of the Holy Quran. This sect was not founded by the British and is run by the money of its own members.

Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/2004/01/29/d40129110296.htm

Anti-Ahmadiyya agitation
Sakhawat Hossain, Gulshan

By banning the books and publications of the Ahmadiyya sect, our government has caved in to the unjustified demands by the fanatics. It is not the business of the government to declare anybody as Muslim or non Muslim and in fact it is beyond its constitutional powers. Ahmadiyyas in Bangladesh are mostly educated and law-abiding citizens and they deserve freedom of worship and protection. Many people of the mainstream Sunni sect do not consider Ahmadiyyas as Muslims and they have their reasons. They are free to do so and let them, if they wish, shun the Ahmadiyyas in religious and social matters. But that does not justify attacking Ahmadiyya mosques or bully them right and left.

Today it is the Ahmadiyyas, tomorrow it will be some other sect. We have to ask ourselves whether we want to end up in the same situation as Pakistan is facing now where Shias are massacred in their mosques and bombs thrown inside Christian churches.

The real losers of this anti-Ahmadiyya agitation are the country as a whole and the tolerant society that we have had so far. There has been much misunderstanding about the true belief of Ahmadiyyas because of one-sided propaganda against them.

Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/2004/01/29/d40129110599.htm