Qadiani

Qadiani or Qadiyani (Urdu: قادیانی, Hindi: क़ादियानी; pronounced [qäː.d̪ɪjäːniː]) is a religious slur used to refer to Ahmadi Muslims, primarily in Pakistan.[1][2] The term originates from Qadian, a small town in northern India, the birthplace of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement. While it is pejorative[3] to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, it is used in official Pakistani documents.[4]

Pakistan officially persecutes Ahmadiyya and uses the term Qadiani to label members of the religion. Pakistan's Second Amendment to the Constitution officially declares Ahmadiyya to be non-Muslims.[5] Ordinance XX officially labels Ahmadi Muslims as Qadiani and prohibits them from any religious or social practices of the Muslim faith.[6] The fourth caliph of the community, Mirza Tahir Ahmad, was forced to flee Pakistan under threat of arrest in 1984, prompting a diaspora of followers to the UK, Germany, and Canada.[7] Ahmadiyya members are targets of death threats by majority Muslims, both inside Pakistan and in diaspora refuges.[8]

The term is sometimes used in an academic context to distinguish the main Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat, referred to as Qadiani, from the separatist Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement for the Propagation of Islam, referred to as Lahori.[9]

  1. ^ Antonio R. Gualtieri (1989). Conscience and Coercion: Ahmadis and Orthodoxy in Pakistan. Guernica Editions. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-920717-41-7.
  2. ^ "Meaning of qaadiyaanii in English, Hindi & Urdu". Rekhta Dictionary. Retrieved 2023-04-01.
  3. ^ Farahnaz Ispahani (2 January 2017). Purifying the Land of the Pure: A History of Pakistan's Religious Minorities. Oxford University Press. pp. 105–. ISBN 978-0-19-062167-4.
  4. ^ Pakistan Penal Code Chap. XV "Of Offences Relating to Religion" pp. 79–81
  5. ^ "Constitution (Second Amendment) Act, 1974". The Constitution of Pakistan. pakistani.org. Archived from the original on 28 August 2001. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  6. ^ Berberian, Linda J. (1987). "Pakistan Ordinance XX of 1984: International Implications on Human Rights". Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review. 9 (3). Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  7. ^ "Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad, Muslim Spiritual Leader,74". New York Times. 17 May 2003. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  8. ^ Taylor, Jerome (21 October 2010). "Hardliners call for deaths of Surrey Muslims". The Independent (UK). Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  9. ^ Khan, Adil Hussain (2015). From Sufism to Ahmadiyya : a Muslim minority movement in South Asia. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-01529-7. OCLC 907336796.