What are differences between Ahmadi Muslims and other Muslims?
Ahmadi Muslims follow the same holy scriptures and teachings as other Muslims. The key difference is that Ahmadi Muslims believe that the Promised Messiah (also referred to as the Mahdi in some texts) of the latter days has arrived and he established the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in 1889. It is a revivalist movement that has no new religious laws or teachings as it seeks to rejuvenate the true Islam as taught by the Holy Prophet Muhammad(sa). Other Muslims are still waiting for a reformer to come.
As with all other Muslims, Ahmadi Muslims believe in the ‘Five Pillars of Islam’, and the ‘Six Articles of Faith’. They follow the same holy scripture (The Holy Qur’an), and accept that Islam is the final and perfect religion for mankind. They also believe in Prophet Muhammad(sa) as Khataman Nabiyyeen (the ‘Seal of the Prophets’) as he was the one who was the best model for mankind who brought God’s final and perfect message for mankind, we also believe he was the last prophet who brought a law to mankind and that Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as) was an ummati Nabi a prophet who is a follower of Islam and the islamic sharia who does not bring a new law for Muslims e.g a new Holy Scripture cannot be possible as Quran was the final scripture for humanity.
Ahmadi Muslims also follow the Islamic sources of guidance and jurisprudence – which is sourced from three main authorities:
- Holy Quran
- Sunnah
- Hadiths (Bukhari, Muslim, etc)
Despite this abundance of guidance Muslims, like followers of all religions before them, were destined to drift away from the true teachings of Islam. This decay was to be followed by the revival of Islam through the messiah of the latter days as prophesied by the Holy Prophet(sa). So whilst all Muslims expect a messiah to appear it is only the question of the identity and acceptance of the messiah that distinguishes Ahmadi Muslims from all other Muslims.
In some Hadith the messiah is referred to as ‘Jesus son of Mary’ and in others he is referred to as ‘Al-Mahdi’.
What is the point of Ahmadiyya?
Well you see, the Prophet Muhammad (saw) gave all the prophecies relating to the Promised Mahdi and Messiah, and he commanded us to give our Baiat (spiritual allegiance) to him, meaning to accept him and join his Jamaat (community), it is not merely a sect of Islam, rather it is a revival of the true teachings of Islam, before Ahmadiyyat, the Muslims were long divided and were constantly having conflict with one another, every group had false beliefs they continue to have these beliefs and conflicts till this day and one of their most dangerous belief was waiting for a 2000 year old prophet Jesus (as) to come back from the skies and go around killing pigs, destroying crosses, and telling people "become, Muslim or die" (not literally those words but you get the point), so the Promised Messiah had to clean Islam from these false charges and conceptions, he taught us that Jesus (as) died the natural death like every other Prophet and fulfilled his mission here on Earth, he taught us that prophets do not sin, that the Quran is not abrogated, and so much more, that is why we had to distinguish ourselves from the others as it is inevitable to call ourselves as "Sunni" because how will the Messiahs mission succeed if we are not even distinguished from the rest who have rejected one sent by God. Ahmadiyyat was sent as a cure and to fix all the problems the Muslims have been facing, Ahmadiyyat was also sent as a cure to the entire world, to leave falsehood and come to truth and the purpose of spreading peace, and unity. Ahmadiyyat will prevail however nothing happens over night, the Messiah sowed the seed of growth and Inshallah his seed will prevail and the world will accept righteousness and truth, we must remember that not everyone will accept truth and there is no compulsion in religion as stated in the Holy Quran :)
