Love For All Hatred For None
Current Topic:

What is the difference beween Ahmadi Muslims, Bahais, and Zikri Muslims ?

Dated: 20/12/1986

Location: The London Mosque

Language: English

Audience: General

What is the difference beween Ahmadi Muslims, Bahais, and Zikri Muslims ?

There are different sects, 73 sects in Islam and I have got a friend which I am preaching and we are going to discuss those sects in which they claim that promised Messiah has come. There are three sects as far as I know, one is Baha’is, Ahmadis and the third one are Zikaris. Would you be kind enough to give us some information on to this sect because I was not… You know, Baha’is don’t believe this, nor do the Zikaris. There was a stage in the history of Baha’is when they claimed that they are the promised Messiah, similar claim to the promised Messiah claim.

But when you study that claim in detail and also study it in its evolutionary history, they kept on changing the stance until their claim is no longer the same claim at all as the claim of the Promised Messiah. That should be differentiated. Although in some Muslim areas the Baha’is take that stance, but the father of Imam Sahib Masjid London has written a very good book on this subject and he has proved from their own books, the study of Al-Aqdas etc., that the claim of Baha’u’llah is not that of Messiah. It is the claim, his claim is that of God himself and it can be proved beyond doubt.

I have read that Sharia book, Al-Aqdas, and the claim is so clear and categorical that there is no shadow of doubt left that that is what he said and that is what he meant. And repeatedly he claimed that he was God Almighty himself, manifested on earth. When he was in the jail, for instance, he wrote in the jail that it is a strange irony that the creation of God, the people, his servants, are free to do what they please and the God is chain bound and he is in the prison. With such categorical statements, how can you call him to be a Messiah? If it is a Messiah, it is in the Christian sense, not in the Muslim sense. So perhaps there the confusion lies.

And the moment you conceive of the coming of a Messiah in the Christian sense, then you are no longer a Muslim sect at all. So this is why the same position is taken differently in the Christian world, with the result that the Christians consider them to be much closer to them than to the Muslims. And this is why they are very sympathetically treated in the Christian world and out of all proportion to their number, they offer them all sorts of facilities for propaganda, for television and radio services and everything.

So their publicity is most often made by the Christian governments or Christian independent organisations than by them themselves. Recently in England, for instance, there was a full-fledged programme about the Baha’is and those who saw it, they got the impression that they are a very huge community and they are growing very rapidly everywhere in the world and a very successful community, commanding large respect and large following. But that is not so.

In reality, in Accra, which is their headquarters in Palestine, there are only two dozen or less Baha’is, after a passage of more than a hundred years. Imagine, Accra being their centre, the world centre, does not boast of a number more than twenty-four or thereabout. And most of the buildings there are being looked after by employees. So this is the report of someone who lives close to there, who has repeatedly visited that place, and it was for the first time that Musleh Maud, who revealed this fact to the world, that if you want to study Baha’is and you want to find out where they are found, the most trustworthy thumb rule would be that they will always be found in some other country and not in the country which you visit.

They will tell you in England that they are found in larger numbers in America, for instance. When you go there, then from America they disappear and they appear in somewhere else. American Baha’is would tell you that, no, they are in Fiji Islands, and when you reach the Fiji Islands, then you will find that they are not in large numbers here, but somewhere else. This is what was discovered for the first time by Musleh Maud, after making a research into their concentrations. So maybe here they would say that Akka is our headquarters, if you want to know really where we are found in great numbers, we are there, but they are not there either.

I have myself witnessed something very interesting which shocked me, despite the fact that I knew Musleh Maud’s position on this, and I was expecting something like that, but not to the extent which I really found. When I was in 1978 visiting America, somebody suggested to me to go to Chicago during a particular period. There they were holding a very great ceremony which was well publicized, the Baha’i Zameen, and in Chicago they have the greatest of their temples, and the most beautiful temple which attracts tourists from far and wide, and actually it is a great architectural piece.

So he suggested to me that I should visit the temple anyway, it’s an important thing, and also if I go during those particular days, then there is going to be an annual ceremony where Baha’is from all over the United States would come and join. That was the most ideal, opportune time for me, and I went there along with my family. So when we got seated and the ceremony started, the total number I counted was 120-some. Now that’s not all, please save your smiles for the future. I appointed Khuddam, who came with me from Washington, at the door and along the path, to ask everyone who appears whether he is a Baha’i or a visitor or a tourist, that sort of thing.

And on my one side there was a family which was from Iran, and they were Baha’is, I asked them myself. At that time I didn’t know that all of them were not Baha’is, so I asked him, are they all Baha’is? He said, yes, yes. I said, I am not. He said, but yes, but you may be, but the others are. I turned to my right, and the people who were sitting on my right, not exactly close, but next, after some time, some distance, I asked them, after the ceremony was over, if they were Baha’is. They said, no, they were just tourists, and they came to see here, and some ceremony was going on, and they sat down.

So then I collected data from the Khuddam, posted for this particular purpose. And I don’t remember exactly, but the figure was around 23, 24, that sort of thing. All the rest were just visitors, and that was their annual function. The most surprising thing is, that was an annual function of not Chicago, but the whole United States. And this family which was sitting next to me, told me that they had come from some distance, you know, to attend this function. And yet the building they had made is a multi-million building, and is a great piece of art.

One wonders where the money comes from. And wherever you visit their temples, they are most beautiful and huge and awe-inspiring things, but empty. Who builds them, and how the money comes from, where the money comes from, I don’t know. But maybe they are very wealthy, because of persecution. Because of persecution, they had to leave their land, and then they opened restaurants and hotels and things. So because of an inborn desire to overcome difficulties, you know, their erection, they laboured very hard, so they became wealthy, there is no doubt about it.

But considering the number, whatever the size of wealth be, still it is very surprising and enigmatic how they could build such huge temples. And while the number seems to be always, you know, eluding you, wherever you reach, the number is somewhere else. So their claim is not that of the promised Messiah at all, I mean, there is no similarity whatsoever. In their claim, whatever name they give it, there is the concept of the Bahá’u’lláh being God, and the Bab opening the door for the coming of the God.

And this is what they claim, this is not something attributed to them. They say Islam is obsolete because the coming of Prophet Muhammad was like the coming of a prophet. When God himself has come, then what is the need of a prophet anymore? He has come with his message. And they give him right to change Islam, that is also something which I know they admit, I mean, this is not something which is attributed to them by any means, they admit.

So how can you compare their claim with the claim of the Messiah Mohammad? His claim is that of a subordinate Messiah, in spirit, not in person, with no attributes of God whatsoever, a humble servant of the Holy Prophet of Islam, with total submission to the law he brought, and to his own world. That is the explanation of the law. Such a claim was never made by anyone else on earth. And Zikris, I mean, they are a completely different thing. I don’t know who told you this, that they believe the Messiah has come, they have no such concept. One Zikri leader came to meet me here, in the London mosque, I discussed the matter with him.

They believe that there is no need for going to Hajj, or following Namaz, in the pattern and the form as it is said in Islam, in various sects. They say Zikr-e-Ilahi is enough. And the way their leader said the Zikr, that is the memory of God, that is enough, and then they dance along with it, you know, a semi-Sufi sect and semi-non-Islamic thing, but they don’t follow the Sharia at all, they say there is no Sharia, there is no law. This is why when one person belonging to the Zikri area, one political leader, raised his voice in favour of Ahmadis, and said, you are doing such atrocities, inhuman, you have no right to do this and that to the Ahmadis, they knew that his words came from the Zikris mainly.

So immediately they started a campaign against Zikris, that they should also be chucked out of the veil of Islam. And very strong, stringent views were expressed in the papers. So after that leader, you know, sort of began to see sense and soften down and ceased to mention Ahmadis, they left Zikris alone from then on. They were just vengeful because of this, and they knew that Zikris have so little in common with Islam, that the Maulvis used to write in those days, that if Ahmadis are to be declared outside the veil of Islam, Zikris should have been declared much earlier, I mean, they are obviously not a part of Islam.

But they say La ilaha illa Allah and they Zikr, so we say that, we don’t call them non-Muslims, but are they Muslim or not? As I told you, this is their position, it is not for me to dub them as non-Muslims, because as long as they claim they are Muslims, the Holy Quran does not give any man a right to declare someone to be a non-Muslim. But a Muslim, according to the Holy Quran, may deviate in certain ways from the Islamic teaching, that he can be declared as Kafir, within Islam. And the old Muslim scholars have written, you know, hundreds of pages on this subject – Kufr Doonah Kufr – they say that while somebody is a Muslim, he still can be declared as Kafir for certain things.

But within Islam. This is why those people who don’t understand this ordinary, I mean, laity who doesn’t understand these fine differences, they are surprised at the great, you know, fight between Muslims and non-Muslims, each declaring the other as Kafir. They say, if everybody is Kafir, where is the Muslim? But they never – I don’t want to say never – but mostly, when they declared the other Muslim sects as Kafir, they believed them to be Muslims at the same time. So the struggle was, within Islam, who is Kafir and who is Muslim? It only meant who is a true Muslim, in the real sense.

And who has got his faith so much corrupted, that although he may continue to claim a Muslim, but in reality he will not be treated as Muslim by God. That is the message of that Kufr. But it doesn’t deprive them of the right to declare themselves Muslims, and they remain a part of the larger Ummah, which is built around the concept of Islam.

So the same would be the position of the Zikris. As long as they claim that Islam is true, as long as they claim that God is one and the Holy Prophet of Islam was a Prophet of God, how can we chuck them out of the veil of Islam altogether?

Share Article on:
Updated on November 23, 2024

Have Questions About Islam?
Get Answers Here!

Start a live chat for instant responses, or submit your questions to learn more. We’re here to provide clarity and understanding on all things Islam.

Knowledge Base

Professionally cultivate one-to-one find customer service with robust ideas.

Live Chat

Have a question on your mind? Let’s talk! Live chat is just a click away!

Ask A Question

Fill out the form below, and we will be in touch shortly.
[fluentform id="4"]