Religion of Thursday, 12 February 2015

Source: GNA

Ahmadi’s calls for equal rights to practice their faith

The three wings of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission in Ghana have called for an end to the rampant killing of Ahmadi Muslims worldwide due to their faith and beliefs.

The three wings Majlis Ausarullah (Ahmadi Elders), Lajna Imaillah (Ahmadi Ladies), and Khuddamul Ahmadiyya (Ahmadi Youth) said this was unjust as far as the human rights and liberties of these people were concerned and the perpetrators should be brought to book.

Alhaji Noor-Deen Saeed, President of Ahmadi Elders, told the news conference in Accra on Tuesday that under no circumstance should one be killed on the basis of his or her religious background or be prevented from practicing his beliefs freely.

Alhaji Saeed said Muslim sects whose beliefs were different from their so-called interpretation of Islam were branded as heretics and outside the pale of Islam and in the minds of these guardians of Islam, the heretics such as Ahmadi and Shia Muslims deserved to be killed. He said restrictions imposed on Ahmadi Muslims, Shia Muslims and Christians made them unable to practice their religion in freedom in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Egypt, Libya and other Arabian countries.

He said when the fundamental human rights were violated anywhere, it called for condemnation everywhere and that the appropriate measures must be put in place to prevent its repetition since it posed serious threat to national and international peace.

Alhaji Saeed said the world must be aware that acts of terror by so-called Muslim fundamentalists and extremists for which huge financial outlays are provided in national budgets had their roots in tolerance in some Islamic countries.

He said as part of the strategy to achieve geopolitical objectives some major powers, with support from their surrogate Muslim governments, employed the services of groups from these countries which they armed and financed to fight their wars.

He said these groups later grew out of control of their sponsors and paymasters and turned their venom on Ahmadi’s, adding this had led to formation of Al-Qaida, Taliban, ISIS and Boko Haram who are wreaking unimaginable brutalities and holding the world to ransom.

Alhaji Saeed appealed to the international community to act decisively to impose sanctions on countries that promoted persecution of religious minorities or seen to be nurturing religious extremism.

He said Ghana should not underestimate the enormity of the problem of religious intolerance and its threat to national security.