Feroz Alam
International Bangla Desk
On 12 February, a group of maulvis from Tahaffuz Khatm-e-Nabuwat and mullahs from other groups attacked an Ahmadi locality.
The Ahmadiyya Mulsim Jamaat Bangladesh began its journey long ago at the very start of the Jamaat. In the time of the Promised Messiahas, the message of Ahmadiyyat reached Bangladesh. The first person to accept Ahmadiyyat was Ahmad Kabir Nur Muhammad Sahib from Chittagong.
After this, a person sent a leaflet to East Bengal from Lahore. Hazrat Maulana Wahid came across this leaflet and that is how he came to know about the claim of the Promised Messiahas and began correspondence with Huzooras via letters, which are recorded in Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part V.
He then was able to travel to Qadian in 1912 and there, he met many scholars and at long last met with Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Ira and did Bai‘at at his hand. He then returned to Bangladesh in 1913 and began preaching the true message of Islam with thousands and thousands of people accepting Ahmadiyyat through him.
Today, the Ahmadiyya Jamaat is established and spread throughout Bangladesh.
At different periods in the Jamaat’s history in Bangladesh, different phases of persecution came upon the Jamaat. Before the partition of Pakistan and India, Bangladesh was a very tolerant society. However, after the partition, Pakistani Maulvis who had immense hatred for the Jamaat travelled to Bangladesh frequently to create disorder and stir up animosity and poison against the Jamaat in the whole society.
In the 1980s, many of the Jamaat’s mosques were seized by these maulvis and many houses of Ahmadis were burned. Then again in the 1990s, it was a very sad phase where seven Ahmadis were martyred in Khulna due to a bomb blast.
Now, looking at the present, the circumstances remain the same. In Bangladesh we used to hold our Jalsa Salanas within our own mosque complex. Then, Hazrat Amirul Momineenaa said to hold the Jalsas in open fields. Thus, upon Huzoor’s guidance, Jamaat Bangladesh purchased an 18-acre plot of land in the northern part of the country with the aim of holding Jalsas there.
This year, we planned to hold the Jalsa there on 22, 23 and 24 February. However, on 12 February after sunset, a group of mullahs from Tahaffuz Khatm-e-Nabuwat and mullahs from other groups came prepared and attacked the Ahmadi locality. They looted, burned and attacked the property, houses and shops. This resulted with 15-16 Ahmadis hurt, and two people very seriously injured. The loss was worth millions.
What is unfortunate is that when the Jamaat requested the police to come, they didn’t. It was after two hours and when all the damage had been done that the police showed
By the grace of Allah, the Jalsa preparation was not affected and everything related to Jalsa remained intact. Khuddam remained firm and did not allow them to enter our mosques.
The local council extended their support and cooperation towards the Jamaat. But under the pressure of the maulvis, they requested the Jamaat to withdraw and postpone the Jalsa.
All over the country, tension has been created by maulvis. They now say that they will not allow any Ahmadi to hold any event or conference anywhere in the country and are pressurising the government to declare us non-Muslim. We pray that the government does not bow before the maulvis and that common sense prevails.
Day by day, as the climate of enmity rises against the Ahmadiayya Jamaat in Bangladesh, so too does the faith of the Bangladesh Ahmadi Muslim. Members of the Jamaat are requested to continue to pray for Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Bangladesh.