DURING A MEDIA INTERVIEW it could come as a shock to hear a senior western government’s representative quoting – approvingly and with reverence – the declarations of “our community’s Caliph”. Surely not that Caliph, a hasty or ill-briefed journalist might think. Not the leader of that blood-drenched, self-styled ‘caliphate’ proclaimed by ISIS and now militarily beaten down. And of course it wasn’t.
No, the official I was interviewing is the British Minister for the United Nations (as well as other portfolios, of which more later) who was once known as Tariq Ahmad and now, as a member of the House of Lords, is called Lord Ahmad, and serves in Prime Minister Theresa May’s government. He also belongs to – and shares his family name with – one of the most progressive movements in Islam, the worldwide community of Ahmadiyya Muslims.
The community’s Caliph came up in our conversation when Ahmad recounted the leader’s favored metaphor for the world’s diversity of religions – that of a network of roads and highways. “He would point out that each one of us”, said Ahmad, “whatever our religion, starts at the same point – and ultimately we all end at the same point, too. But there’s a great range of different routes we can take to get there”.
Ahmad, like many adherents and observers, sees the Ahmadiyya movement as “a Renaissance of Islam” to use his words – a spiritual and moral renewal that goes back to the fundamentals of the faith, “to the core of scripture”, he said. He cited the prophet Muhammad’s Medina Charter of the year 622 CE, as placing a firm emphasis on mutual respect among different faith traditions. “Even during a state of war”, he pointed out, “there is an instruction laid on Muslims to protect synagogues and churches – so much so that they must be protected even before mosques are protected”.
TOLERANCE AND INDEED ACTIVE cooperation between faiths are hallmarks of Ahmad’s approach as the active political figure he is. He travels the world extensively – not just to New York for his UN duties (where we met). As, in addition, Britain’s Minister for Human Rights, and Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion and Belief, he repeatedly visits countries in the developing world. (He also reports directly to the Prime Minister as her Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Situations.)
He described to me a recent trip to Sudan where historically bloody conflict has had its roots in Christian-Muslim populations’ enmity.
Peace-building, he said, was now being handled mostly well under a UN presence … but he observed renewed tension building around the contentious issue of school closures for different faiths’ holy days. “But it was the faith leaders themselves who – proactively, not because a British Minister had come in pushing for a solution – came up between them with a new approach to government in the capital, Khartoum, to sort matters out and calm things down. I think such a development can give you cause for real hope.”
Ahmad is himself the product, educationally, of a Church of England school in south London, where he attended Anglican services – at his mother’s insistence, he was happy to tell me – and he now sends his own children to Christian schools. His middle child (out of three), a pre-teen boy who attends a Jesuit school, was recently asked to consider what kind of Muslim he was, and tentatively labeled himself a “Christian Muslim’. The Minister told me: “I was proud of that answer, because he was in all innocence finding his own way, figuring out what things could go together”.
America will soon get a taste of Minister Ahmad’s influential faith background. The current Ahmadiyya Caliph, Mirza Masroor Ahmad – the fifth leader since the movement was formed in nineteenth-century, still British-ruled India – is about to visit the US and speak with his estimated 20,000 followers here. The Caliph’s tour begins in Maryland on October 15th, and also includes meetings in Virginia, Pennsylvania and Texas.
