Praying In Ahmadiyya Mosque
These verses are definitely addressing the Munafiqeen (hypocrites) of Prophet’s time; but these verses can’t be applied to Ahmediya community or to any people for that matter because of the following reasons. 1) Chapter 9 (Surah Tauba) of Quran was revealed in the final stage of Prophet’s dawah after ‘completion of proof’ (Ittemam-e-Hujjat) was done by the Prophet on all the intended parties (People of the book, Hypocrites, Pagans of Mecca). It is a Surah of God’s wrath and final punishment imposed on deniers of the Prophet. Everything commanded in this Surah is under direct revelation and supervision of God. In the absence of divine revelation, we have no way of knowing what actually lies in a person’s heart or whether he/she has denied the truth intentionally. 2) It would be unfair to equate the hypocrites of that time with the people in Ahmediya community. Ahmedi people have their beliefs all spelled out quite openly in public, they are not hiding anything or wearing any masquerade in order to hide their beliefs or with the intention to hurt other Muslims. Most of the times when they hide their identity, its mostly to safeguard themselves from religious persecution imposed on them by the rest of the Muslim community. 3) Even if they consider Non-Ahmediya as Non-Muslims or the ones astray, still they don’t persecute other Muslims, neither do they impose their beliefs on others. We think this is not anyone’s domain to declare any other sect Non-Muslim. So we don’t give verdict on them or any other sect for that matter, despite the fact they do. (In reality, not even a single sect of Muslims is safe from this religious activism. Every major Muslim sect has declared other sect(s) Non-Muslims / Apostate etc. in one way or another. Therefore, I would humbly request you to not go down that road where all our sects have gone already and now no single sect is safe from any other sect. If it were an option, you should prefer to go to a mosque of your own choosing to experience a complete peace of mind and peace of soul. Since we are talking about accentuating circumstances, therefore I see no reason to stop you from going to any mosque, of any sect just to bow down to Allah. You are responsible for your prayer only, not for those of others; not even for the imam leading the prayer.