The Ahmadi Issue is a three part podcast series that looks into the institutionalized persecution of Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan through interviews with Ahmadis still in Pakistan and who have fled to the U.S. Through interviews with Ahmadi family members, and asylum seekers, the series delves into themes surrounding memory, politics and religion, and the role of nationalism in the systemic persecution of Ahmadis. 

The first episode begins with the story of Mohammad Jammal Ahmad, my grandmother’s brother who was killed at 17 years old during the Anti-Ahmadi Lahore Riots of 1953. The second episode surrounds the laws and politics of Pakistan that have led to being an Ahmadi Muslim constitutionally unlawful while exploring what life is like as an Ahmadi in Pakistan today. Finally, the last episode covers the role Pakistani nationalism has played, and the journey several asylum seekers had to take to get to New York.

 

To be an Ahmadi Muslim in Pakistan has always been a courageous and dangerous act. In 1974, Pakistan declared the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam to be unlawful, depriving Ahmadis of their Muslim identity by legally stripping them of the right to identify as Muslim, consequently further endangering their livelihoods. 

 

Currently Ahmadis face a minimum 3 year jail sentence in addition to a fine if found guilty of calling themselves Muslims, going to their mosques, and even saying the greeting, “Assalamu-Alaikum.” 

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Due to the constant threat of being harrassed, imprisoned, or killed, hundreds of Ahmadis continue to flee Pakistan. According to the U.S. State Department, 207 Ahmadis sought asylum in the United States alone in 2018. 

 

What happens when the creation of a state results in the exclusion of thousands of people who don’t fit the part of the majority? This intense nationalism results in violence and promotes a constant ‘othering’. With the ongoing nationalist, racist, and xenophobic rhetoric in the U.S. it is only important we stop to take a moment to really understand what there is at stake from resisting change.