They really have the balls doing this brazenly in this country. Salute.
Curious at the description of their group -if they’re really Ahmadis. Big on charity but definitely gets branded a cult because they’re not mainstream sunni.
Are they more closely related to Shiah, or is it a different teaching altogether?
They’re loosely (imo) grouped under Shiah but they’re not the mainline imamate (e.g. the twelvers, Ismailis etc) ones. Brb I need to refresh my memory on their theology… Oh yeah, cos for them the Mahdi has returned (the guy who founded the group) In any case, significant enough south asian group that they often get persecuted in places like Pakistan. Beyond my practical experience encountering them in the UK I don’t know much about them, but I always get the impression they’re part of that colonial-era spiritual movements happening in the indian subcontinent of their time.
Oh yeah, cos for them the Mahdi has returned (the guy who founded the group)
‘has returned’ as in the second coming ?
I briefly googled it, the founder is Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835 - 1908), it appears that they are more open than the other branches of Islam, for e.g., they accept the fact that there are other divines came before Muhammad. Also, they believe Jesus survived the crucifixion and died in Kashmir of old age with his remains in a shrine there.
Aside from the belief in all prophets in the Quran and the Old Testament, the Community also regards Zoroaster, Krishna, Buddha, Confucius as prophets. [1]
‘has returned’ as in the second coming ?
Sure, we can use the christian understanding of it. I mean, this really shouldn’t be a spicy take, but literally 100% of muslim understanding of Imam Mahdi (that’s not related to the Shia belief of the final imam, which is related to how basically sunnis murdered the Prophet’s family - that’s the backstory for ashura, and why sunnis celebrate it low-key and shias celebrate it more emotionally - so shias believe in the hidden imam from the Prophet’s lineage) is basically taken from Revelations. Nothing in the Qur’an spelled this out even as we believe Isa never died on the cross.
Honestly the rest of what you found in that wiki entry is pretty much Muslim mainstream belief - Isa never died (but uh no one would say he died in Kashmir lmao) and a number of theologians and philosophers even to this day, make a lot of arguments that this or that religious figure is a prophet because it is established that God had sent previous messengers anyway. It’s just a difference between nabi (only for their ppl or at least themselves) and rasul (for everyone). People debate who and how many.
