By Amadou Jadama in Bissau
The missionary in charge of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at in Guinea Bissau has dismissed as “inaccurate, grossly misleading and blatantly false” that the British government is bankrolling the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at around the world.
Muhammad Hassan Memon made this rebuttal in an interview with The Standard during the 14th convocation (jalsa salana) on Friday in Safim, Guinea Bissau.
The event which began with a raising of flags brought together members of the jama’at from across the sub-region.
Missionary Memon said the jama’at is ready to fend off such baseless criticisms and debunk false conspiracy theories.
For decades, critics of the movement have claimed that the Ahmadis are a construct of the British as part of a complot to bring schism and theological distortion among Muslims.
Reacting to this, Memon said: “Some of these people who put this and many other allegations against the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at don’t believe in Prophet Muhammad and God Almighty. They are just making big false allegations against the Ahmadiyya Muslim community. We are ready to condemn it. But our message is one of love and respect. So, those who talk against the Ahmadiyya Jama’at, we leave them in the hand of Allah the Almighty, and Allah will judge between us and them,” he said.
He added: “You know these allegations are not new. They were being made since the time of The Promised Messiah. And since then we have been condemning them. It’s completely false allegation. Allah never appreciates telling lies. If you are talking about somebody, you must investigate him to know whether what you want to say is true or not. But if you don’t investigate him, and you just say false things against him, you are not going to be happy before Allah. Everyone will be answerable to the Creator one day.
We think about the hereafter. You will answer for making false allegations. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at is not sponsored by anyone. Each and every member of the jama’at contributes towards the progress of Islam. Whenever a member of the jama’at anywhere in the world get something, he would spend it on the right path, in the right way and with the guidance of the caliph. This is the progress you see.
So, when people see that progress, they say, ‘these people are being sponsored by someone’. Absolutely not, we are not sponsored by anyone, but by our own self. Everything is contributed by the members themselves, and not from the British or anyone else, “he emphatically denied
Talking on convention, Missionary Memon recalled that it was initiated by the founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.
He added: “Imam Ahmad has never considered this gathering as a worldly gathering, like a festival. This gathering is completely a gathering for Allah, The Almighty. We are gathered here for the remembrance of Allah, and that is the main purpose of it. That is why today more than 200 countries are observing the Jalsa Salana. The first Jalsa Salana at the time of The Promised Messiah was attended by only 75 people.”
Memon said his community numbers about 40,000 in Guinea Bissau.
