Ahmadiyyas and Qadianis are not Muslims, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind passed a resolution

GG News Bureau

New Delhi, 26th July. The Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind passed a resolution on July 25, 2023, claiming that Ahmadiyyas and Qadianis are not Muslims. The leading Muslim group in India spoke out in support of the Andhra Pradesh Waqf Boards, who had previously approved a similar resolution condemning Ahmadiyyas and refused to classify them as Muslims.

In response, the Andhra Pradesh Waqf Board received a letter from the union ministry for minority affairs asking who authorised them to issue a Fatwa against the Qadianis.

The Andhra Pradesh Waqf Board’s stance on Ahmadiyyas shows the unanimity of all Muslims, according to Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind in its resolution. The union ministry’s declaration on behalf of the Ahmadiyyas, a minority group within the Muslim community, contrasts sharply with Jamiat’s most recent stance.

Earlier, on Friday, July 21, 2023, the Central administration faced the Andhra Pradesh administration and the Waqf Board in the state, adopting a strong stand against the fatwa designating Ahmadiyyas as non-Muslims. The Andhra Pradesh Waqf board’s decision to issue a fatwa against the Ahmadiyya Muslim community and the Ministry of Minority Affairs’ concerns regarding their religious freedom were both challenged.

In a sharply worded letter to the Andhra Pradesh government, the Ministry of Minority Affairs denounced the Waqf Board’s resolution as a hate campaign that could have national repercussions. The Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh, KS Jawahar Reddy, received a letter from the Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Minority Affairs, CPS Bakshi, criticising the conduct of the Waqf board. He emphasised that no body should have the authority to revoke any community’s right to practise its religion and questioned the board’s legitimacy in issuing a fatwa that expelled a community from Islam.

The whole Ahmadiyya community was deemed to be non-Muslim by a resolution that the Andhra Pradesh State Waqf Board adopted back in 2012. As a result of a subsequent legal challenge to this resolution, the Andhra Pradesh High Court issued an order temporarily suspending the decision. When the Andhra Pradesh Waqf Board declared the Ahmadiyya Muslim community to be infidels, following the fatwa of Jamait ul Ulema, the situation heated up in February 2023. In addition, the board officially declared them to be non-Muslims in a written order. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community protested this step by filing a formal complaint against the board’s decision with the Ministry of Minority Affairs on July 20, 2023.

In its letter, the ministry noted that notwithstanding the High Court’s directives, the Andhra Pradesh Waqf Board had issued another proclamation bearing the chairman’s signature. According to a resolution adopted by the Andhra Pradesh Waqf Board in February 2023, “In consequence to the Fatwa of Jamiat ul Ulema, Andhra Pradesh, dated May 26th, 2009, the ‘Qadiani community’ is proclaimed as ‘kafir’ and not a Muslim.”

The central Ministry of Minority Affairs clarified that the Waqf Act, 1995 is the primary legislation for the administration and management of Waqf properties in India and does not give State Waqf Boards any authority to make such proclamations in response to questions about the Waqf Board’s authority to issue such a fatwa.