Ahmadiyya by country

Ahmadiyya by country
Africa
Asia
Europe
Americas
Oceania

Ahmadiyya is an Islamic religious movement originating in 1889 in northern India around the teachings of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908), who claimed to have been divinely appointed as both the promised Mahdi and Messiah expected by Muslims to appear towards the end times.

As of 2016 the Community has been established in 209 countries and territories of the world.[1][2][3][n 1] with concentrations in South Asia, West Africa, East Africa and Indonesia. The Community is a minority Muslim group in almost every country of the world. On the other hand, it has spread to most countries of the world.[4][5] In some countries, it is practically illegal to be an Ahmadi Muslim. For instance, in Pakistan, following Ordinance XX, Ahmadis cannot call themselves Muslims, profess the Islamic creed publicly or call their places of worship mosques. The religious slur "Qadiani" has been used against Ahmadi Muslims and the community has also been persecuted. Together, these factors make it difficult to estimate the Ahmadiyya population for both the Community itself and as well as independent organizations. For this reason, the Community gives a figure of "tens of millions";[6] however, most independent sources variously estimate the population to be at least 10 to 20 million[7] worldwide, thereby representing around 1% of the world's Muslim population.[n 2]

According to the World Christian Encyclopedia, the Ahmadiyya movement is the fastest growing Islamic group as of the early 21st century.[n 3] The country with the largest Ahmadiyya population is Pakistan, with an estimated 4 million Ahmadi Muslims.[8] Excluding small nations, the country with the largest proportion of Ahmadi Muslims to the wider Muslim population is Ghana, standing at 16%. The country with the highest percentage of the overall population is Sierra Leone standing at over 8%.

The population is almost entirely contained in the single, organized and united movement, commonly referred to as the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community (AMC), headed by the Khalifa. The other is the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement, a separatist group which, though historically significant, has failed to attract a sizeable following representing less than 0.2% of the total Ahmadiyya population.[n 4]

  1. ^ "More than 584,000 people join Ahmadiyya Muslim Community as annual convention held". swlondener.co.uk. August 15, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  2. ^ "More than 584,000 people join the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community". Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Press and Media Office. August 18, 2016. Archived from the original on September 11, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  3. ^ "Argyll's Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow to receive Muslim peace prize". Retrieved February 15, 2015.
  4. ^ Baumann, Martin; Melton, J. Gordon (2010). Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices, second Edition [6 volumes]: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices. ABC-CLIO. p. 58. ISBN 9781598842043.
  5. ^ Duff, Michael (2008-07-31). Salam + 50. World Scientific. ISBN 9781908978899.
  6. ^ "An Overview". Al Islam. Retrieved March 4, 2014.
  7. ^ See:
  8. ^ The 1998 Pakistani census states that there are 291,000 (0.22%) Ahmadis in Pakistan. However, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has boycotted the census since 1974 which renders official Pakistani figures to be inaccurate. Independent groups have estimated the Pakistani Ahmadiyya population to be somewhere between 2 million and 4 million Ahmadis with the 4 million figure being the most quoted figure and accounting for approximately 2.2% of the country. See:


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