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Ahmadiyya Muslims open their doors
On Friday, the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in Queens will open the doors of its mosque in Holliswood to the public for a celebration.
The event, known as Khilaafat Day, will feature speeches, poetry, Quran recitations and prayers at 86-71 Palo Alto St. One aim, according to Imam I.H. Kauser, is to foster friendship in the broader community, “so people know what we really are, so we can work together.”
A lunch of curried chicken, rice and pita bread will be served afterward.
Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad – founder of Islam‘s Ahmadiyya Movement – will be honored, as well as a series of khalifas, or leaders, who succeeded him, according to the imam.
Ahmad founded the movement in the late 19th century and declared himself to be the “promised messiah,” according to local Ahmadiyya officials.
Ahmad, born in 1835 in a small town called Qadian in India’s Punjab region, established the Ahmadiyya sect in 1889.
Ahmad’s messianic claim and other tenets of the Ahmadiyya faith – practiced by many millions of adherents in more than 175 countries, according to Kauser – set the sect apart from other Muslim groups, he said.
The movement’s founder, Ahmad, claimed that, at age 40, he received a revelation that Jesus of Nazareth died a natural death, said the imam, and that he, Ahmad, was the Messiah for all peoples, as well as the last Messiah.
“Hindus believe Krishna is coming. Buddhists look for Maitreya. … We believe the person who is to come has come,” Kauser said, adding that signs predicted to precede the coming of the Messiah – such as earthquakes, fires, wars, pestilences, meteor showers and eclipses of the sun and moon – have already occurred.
Ahmad “declared in 1882, ‘I am the person who was supposed to come, and I have come,’” Kauser said. “The object of his coming was to bring people to God. His message is for the whole world, not just Muslims.”
He said Ahmad influences the world for the better through his teachings, the upright life he led, religious books he wrote, including the last, which was a message of peace advocating reconciliation among all religions. His influence also extends through the Ahmadiyya Movement he founded and through his followers, who are peacemakers, Kauser said.
Ahmad sought to bring people together, Kauser said. He established a system of elected successors – the khalifas – to ensure that Ahmadis have a continuing source of guidance. The current khalifah is Masroor Ahmad, who lives in London, the imam said.
“Because of the khalifah, we’re united,” Kauser said. “We have one guide. He gives us the proper teachings of Islam, which is full of peace, not harm to anyone. Our slogan is, ‘Love for all. Hatred for None.’”
The Ahmadiyya mosque has been in the Holliswood community for 21 years. About 250 families worship there. The organization’s Web site is: www.alislam.org.
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