Abstract
This article presents a sociological, historical and theological study of the Ahmadiyya Jama’at. Despite the considerable contribution made by the Ahmadi to the life and development of Pakistan as a nation state, and the group’s notable philanthropic and charitable work, the Ahmadiyya Jama’at is fiercely persecuted by other Muslims. This article, after describing the history and beliefs of the Ahmadiyya, and a brief account of the life of the group’s founder Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, considers the reasons for such opposition. Two questions are paramount throughout, namely are the Ahmadi Muslims or a splinter group forming a new faith, and what does the Movement tell us about Muslim identity?
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Valentine, S.R. (2021). The Ahmadiyya Jama’at: A Question of Muslim Identity. In: Lukens-Bull, R., Woodward, M. (eds) Handbook of Contemporary Islam and Muslim Lives. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32626-5_10
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