chapter 11 Muslims Accused of Apostasy: An Ahmadi Refutation Göran Larsson The followers of the Ahmadiyya movement have suffered from discrimina- tion, violence and attacks since Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908) issued his first religious messages in the 1880s in the village of Qadian in India. With the Partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, the attacks on his followers became more intense. For example, since 1974 it has been forbidden and punishable for Ahmadis to identify themselves as Muslims in Pakistan, and several research reports have documented the heavy persecution that Ahmadiyya Muslims suffer in many countries and regions of the world.1 Regardless of the fact that the Ahmadis are both an example of a Muslim reform movement and have played a key role in the early history, establish- ment and spread of Islam in both Europe and North America,2 the movement has not been much studied. By downplaying the minority positions that ex- ist among and within Muslim groups, it is easy for researchers that focus on Islam and Muslim affairs to come to the wrong conclusion that a “correct” interpretation of Islam is only found among the majority Sunni population.3 Internal differences, minority positions in opposition to majority positions * This study was prepared within the framework of a larger research project, “Leaving Islam: Apostasy, Freedom of Religion and Conflicts in a Multireligious Sweden,” funded by the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet). 1 See, for example, A Beleaguered Community: On the Rising Persecution of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community (International Human Rights Committee, 2015). 2 On the role of the Ahmadiyya movement in the early history of Islam and Muslims in Europe, see, for example, G. Jonker, “A Laboratory of Modernity – The Ahmadiyya Mission in Inter- war Europe,” Journal of Muslims in Europe 3 (2014), 1–25, G. Jonker, The Ahmadiyya Quest for Religious Progress: Missionizing Europe 1900–1965 (Leiden: Brill, 2016) and B.A. Jacobsen, G. Larsson and S. Sorgenfrei, “The Ahmadiyya Mission to the Nordic Countries,” in Handbook of Nordic New Religions, (eds). J.R. Lewis and I.B. Tøllefsen (Leiden: Brill, 2015), 359–373. For the significance of the movement in North America, see, for example, E.E. Curtis iv, Muslims in America: A Short History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009). 3 This problem is, for example, partly addressed by A. Lathan, “The Relativity of Categorizing in the Context of the Ahmadiyya,” Die Welt des Islams, 48: 3(2008), 372–393. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���8 | doi �0.��63/978900436�5�9_0�� <UN> Muslims Accused of Apostasy 173 and struggles over questions of legitimacy and authority are present in both history and the present day when it comes to the study of religions in general and Islam and Muslims in particular. While this chapter is only devoted to a debate about accusations of apostasy from Islam, it serves as a reminder that Muslim groups are seldom united in their thoughts or actions when it comes to how to interpret and apply Islam. The chapter opens with a brief outline of the history and theology of the Ahmadiyya movement. This background is important because it will give the reader a backdrop to the text that is the focus of my chapter, namely The Truth about the Alleged Punishment for Apostasy in Islam.4 This specific text is an apologetic work rejecting the common idea that Muslims should be allowed to kill anyone accused of leaving Islam. The text was originally delivered by the fourth Caliph of the Ahmadiyya movement, Mirza Tahir Ahmad (1928–2003), at the annual Jalsa Salana held in Tilford, uk, on 27th July 1986. The speech was delivered in Urdu, but was published in an English translation in 2005. Ahmad’s text illustrates that the debate over apostasy and how to treat indi- viduals who are accused of leaving Islam is an open one, showing that it is possible to find different answers among Muslim theologians in both history and today. By paying attention to internal conflicts over how to define who is and who is not a Muslim, it is easy to show that the definition of a Muslim is not a static or self-evident category – on the contrary. Authority over interpretation and the laying down of categories and typologies is always related to issues of power. Categories like orthodoxy and heresy are not natural, but are construct- ed and closely related to whoever has the authority and power of decision.5 In both history and today we find abundant examples showing that Muslims have conflicting opinions about Islamic dogmas and about how to live and practice Islam. As demonstrated by Ahmad’s text, the question of apostasy is not an exceptional case, and even though a large number of Muslims strongly believe that it is wrong to leave Islam and that apostates should be killed,6 it is 4 H.M.T. Ahmad, The Truth about the Alleged Punishment for Apostasy in Islam (Tillford: Raqeem Press/Islam International Publications Ltd, 2005). The text can be retrieved from https://www.alislam.org/library/books/Apostasy-in-Islam.pdf (accessed 2015-07-17). 5 On the importance of considering classifications and power when studying religions, see, for example, M. Craig, A Critical Introduction to the Study of Religion (Sheffield: Equinox, 2012). 6 See, for example, R. Peters and G.J.J. De Vries, “Apostasy in Islam,” Die Welt des Islams 17: 1/4 (1976–1977), 1–25. See also The World’s Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society (Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, April 30, 2013), 55. Retrieved from: http://www.pewforum .org/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-exec/ (accessed 2015-08-08). <UN>.