Baishakh, Bangladesh - A top Ahmadiyya leader yesterday said that Jamaat-e-Islami, a key component of the ruling coalition, is the brains behind the countrywide Khatme Nabuwat movement to ban the sect.
"Originated in the undivided India, Jamaat is trying to establish the ideology of its leader Syed Abul Ala Moududi to brand us non-Muslim," said Prof Meer Mobashwer Ali, Ahmadiyya Nayeb National Amir.
He also claimed they have evidence that a neighbouring Muslim country has been using its agencies to incite hatred towards the Ahmadiyyas in Bangladesh.
According to him, Moududi first launched the anti-Ahmadiyya campaign in 1934 under the banner of Majlishe Aharar Movement. After India and Pakistan split, he settled in Pakistan and resumed the movement there in 1953, naming it Khatme Nabuwat Movement.
"Moududi's ideology, which became Jamaat's principles in Pakistan, had succeeded in creating situations that led to violence against Ahmadiyyas, and grabbing state power and implementing sharia law there," Prof Mobashwer told the media in an interview yesterday.
"They are following the same ideals here in Bangladesh to attain the same goal."
The Ahmadiyya leader noted that the recent atrocities on the Ahmadiyyas are part of a design plotted by a top leader of Islamic Oikya Jote, who wants to drive a hard bargain with the BNP in the next parliamentary election.
"But I believe they (Khatme Nabuwat) will not be successful in their campaign to vilify the sect," he said.
Continues Prof Ali: "Bangladesh is not Pakistan where the fundamentalists succeeded in labelling us as non-Muslims. Our country came into being on the basis of a liberal cultural heritage having no room for bigotry."
The Ahmadiyya issue has been put forth to jeopardise the very base of the nation, he said, adding, "Our people are not orthodox, they are rather simply pious and moderate."
The Ahmadiyya Nayeb-e-amir said the Khatme Nabuwat's claims that the Ahmadiyyas do not accept Hazrat Muhammad as the last prophet and that they have a separate 'Qalema' are nothing but falsehoods.
The Nabuwat leaders' demand of a government move declaring Ahmadiyyas non-Muslim goes against the principles of Islam, he said, quoting a hadith of Bukhari Sharif that reads: "He who prays like us, prays towards our 'Qibla' and eats meat of the animal slaughtered by us, is a Muslim."
He criticised the major political parties for not lending the Ahmadiyyas support during the recent spate of attacks on them, and said, "No major political party stood by us fearing loss of votes, although none of them ideologically supports violence against any particular sect."
"Ours is a non-political, peace-loving, and totally religious community. We seek help of Allah and Allah only for our safety, security and protection. We believe that we are close to Allah and He will never fail to glorify his ardent followers."
BDNEWS, meanwhile, reported yesterday that Prof Mobashwer had claimed to have evidence that Pakistan has been using its intelligence -- Inter Service Intelligence -- through its high commission in Dhaka to help bigots run the anti-Ahmadiyya campaign.
The news agency, however, said Pakistan High Commission Press Minister Sajida Iqbal Syed 'dispelled the allegations and said the Pakistan mission has no involvement with such activities'. "Pakistan does not believe in interference in other country's internal affairs," BDNEWS quoted Sajida as saying.