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Ahmadiyya Islam and the Muslim Diaspora Ahmadiyya Islam and the Muslim Diaspora This book is a study of the UK-based Ahmadiyya Muslim community in the context of the twentieth-century South Asian diaspora. Originating in late nineteenth-century Punjab, the Ahmadis are today a vibrant international religious movement; they are also a group that has been declared heretic by other Muslims and one that continues to face persecution in Pakistan, the country the Ahmadis made their home after the partition of India in 1947. Structured as a series of case studies, the book focuses on the ways in which the Ahmadis balance the demands of faith, community and modern life in the diaspora. Following an overview of the history and beliefs of the Ahmadis, the chapters examine in turn the use of ceremonial occasions to consolidate a diverse international community; the paradoxical survival of the enchantments of dreams and charisma within the structures of an institutional bureaucracy; asylum claims and the ways in which the plight of asylum seekers has been strategically deployed to position the Ahmadis on the UK political stage; and how the planning and building of mosques serves to establish a home within the diaspora. Based on fieldwork conducted over several years in a range of formal and informal contexts, this timely book will be of interest to an interdisciplinary audience from social and cultural anthropology, South Asian studies, the study of Islam and of Muslims in Europe, refugee, asylum and diaspora studies, as well as more generally religious studies and history. Marzia Balzani is Research Professor of Anthropology at New York University Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Routledge/Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) South Asian Series Edited by Duncan McDuie-Ra The University of New South Wales, Australia Published in Association with the Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA), represented by Ernest Koh, chair of the ASAA Publications Committee, Monash University, Australia. Founded in 1986 to publish outstanding work in the social sciences and humani- ties, the SAPS entered a new phase in 2010 when it joined with Routledge to continue a notable tradition of Australian-based research about South Asia. Works in the series are published in both UK and Indian editions. SAPS publishes outstanding research on the countries and peoples of South Asia across a wide range of disciplines including history, politics and political economy, anthropology, geography, literature, sociology and the fields of cultural studies, communication studies and gender studies. Interdisciplinary and com- parative research is encouraged. Suicide and Society in India Peter Mayer Women and Domestic Violence in Bangladesh Seeking A Way Out of the Cage Laila Ashrafun Transitional Justice in Nepal Interests, Victims and Agency Yvette Selim India and the Anglosphere Race, Identity and Hierarchy in International Relations Alexander E. Davis Sovereignty, Space and Civil War in Sri Lanka Porous Nation Anoma Pieris Ahmadiyya Islam and the Muslim Diaspora Living at the End of Days Marzia Balzani For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/ RoutledgeAsian-Studies-Association-of-Australia-ASAA-South-Asian-Series/ book-series/ASAASAS Ahmadiyya Islam and the Muslim Diaspora Living at the End of Days Marzia Balzani First published 2020 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2020 Marzia Balzani The right of Marzia Balzani to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-1-138-71585-1 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-19728-9 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Apex CoVantage, LLC For Nick Allen Contents Acknowledgements viii Note on transliteration, translation and quotation xi List of abbreviations xii List of illustrations xiii Preface xiv 1 Sameness and difference: situating the Ahmadis 1 2 Ceremonial occasions: repetition and time 43 3 Enchantment and the ethic of brotherhood: dreams and the charismatic organization 86 4 Asylum and the Ahmadi diaspora 125 5 Home from home: mosque building and urban planning in a global city 169 Postscript 189 Glossary 190 Bibliography 192 Index 210 Acknowledgements No ethnography could come to fruition without the support, knowledge and patience of many individuals. This one is no different, and I only hope that this book does justice to the many people over many years who have opened their homes to me, shared their time and their insights, invited me to events and answered my questions with understanding and good grace. Without the mem- bers of the Ahmadiyya jama‘at UK and their willingness to allow me to attend functions both large and small, join in with family celebrations and take part in committee meetings as well as be granted the opportunity to learn about some of the ‘backstage’ organization necessary to manage the incredible amount of work required to maintain the jama‘at, this ethnography would not have been possible. I first found out about the Ahmadiyya Muslims living, working and worship- ping in my neighbourhood in London in 2003 and soon thereafter began to take my first tentative steps towards a full-fledged ethnographic study. For much of the time since then I have worked towards this book as and when other commitments made it possible to do so. While it was often frustrating not to be able to devote a long stretch of time solely to the ethnography the slow build-up of knowledge and the opportunities this has afforded me to watch thejama‘at grow, change and respond to events local and global has, I hope, deepened and enriched my under- standing of Ahmadiyya Islam in the diaspora. It has also allowed me to watch some of the children and young people I first met years ago grow into thoughtful and considerate adults, and in some cases even to see them start families of their own. Over time friendships have developed, and I now cannot imagine a return trip to the UK without visiting people who started off as my informed consent- giving ‘interlocutors’ and who have now come to mean much more to me than this official sounding twenty-first-century research term would suggest. Among the very many people I wish to thank are Anni Rehman, Fauzia Mirza, Maha Khan, Maryam Karim, Qudsia Mirza, Aneela, Sara, Naheed and the very many other women who did not wish to have their names appear in print. I also wish to thank Asif M. Basit, Curator, Ahmadiyya Archive and Research Centre, London for our conversations over the years and the permission to reproduce the photographs in the book. To Usman Ahmad, who shared his memories and formidable store of knowledge about the history, official and personal, of thejama‘at and who helped in the intensive final stages of the manuscript preparation picking up errors that Acknowledgements ix had slipped into the text, thank you. I am indebted also to Naseer Dean secre- tary of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association Liaison Committee, one of his many roles in the jama‘at, for inviting me to countless official functions, for answering my never-ending questions and for keeping me informed of developments in the jama‘at even after I left the UK. To the many individuals and volunteers who give up their time and expertise to keep the jama‘at functioning and for whom talking to interested outsiders is just part of what they take in their stride, I cannot begin to express my gratitude for all your help, advice and diplomatic efforts to help me learn from you. Beyond this I am grateful to all the conference and workshop participants who asked the sometimes difficult but always necessary questions which helped me to rethink, extend and improve on my ideas and work. Earlier versions of chapters of the book were presented at the 2003 conference of the Association of Ameri- can Anthropologists in Chicago, USA (an early set of ideas for Chapter 1); at the Association of Social Anthropologists, Durham UK, in 2004 (now incorporated into Chapter 4); at the Second International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities, Prato, Italy also in 2004, on diasporic faith communities; in 2006 at the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) conference in Bris- tol UK, on urban ethnography (Chapter 5); in 2008 at the European Conference of Modern South Asian Studies, Manchester University, UK, where part of Chap- ter 4 was first presented; and at the 2010 EASA conference in Maynouth, Ireland, where another section of Chapter 4 was first discussed. In 2010 at the Contem- porary South Asia Seminar, Oxford University, part of Chapter 3 on dreams was presented; in 2014 a revised version of Chapter 1 was read to the Association of Social Anthropologists, Edinburgh, UK, and in the same year in Tallin, Estonia, at the EASA conference a revised section of Chapter 5 was presented and benefited greatly from the lively discussion which followed.
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