Intro
Dear readers, our ex-ahmadi-atheist friends over at the islam/ahmadiyya reddit forum have leaked a letter from Mirza Maghfoor Ahmad from March-2020, in this letter, the Khalifa’s elder brother, in this letter, Mirza Maghfoor Ahmad is pressing Ahmadi’s to tell the Jamaat how much money hey earn and etc., read the below for further details.
The most shocking part of this is wherein Mirza Maghfoor Ahmad says, “Those Ahmadis who refuse to submit their budget, we must constantly remind them and pray that they develop love for Allah over money.”
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The write up
Although on the first page he says respectable things about showing honesty regarding the budget your masjid actually has instead of putting in random numbers for those who don’t “donate”, the second page pretty much cancels that.
The belief that officeholders must constantly remind Ahmadis that they have to pay their chanda/submit their budget makes the jamaat sound like a Mafia that’s going around town demanding people for money they “owe” for protection, except for the jamaat instead of protection it’s inclusion. It makes the Jamaat sound like a group of IRS debt collectors instead of a religious organization.
Why does the Jamaat so desperately need to squeeze out money out of every single member? Where would does that money go, there’s no way any religion would need that much money in order to “spread the word of God?”
The part where he says “may they develop love for Allah over their love of money” is proof that the Jamaat believes that Allah NEEDS our money in order for his “true religion” that is “destined to reach the four corners of the Earth” to spread. It makes it sound like Allah is desperate for our charity and without it his will won’t happen.
Also, is the Jamaat really trying to guilt trip Ahmadis over wanting to keep their hard earned money? Are they really trying to say that if you don’t comply with giving 10%+ of your earnings every year, that you don’t truly love Allah and are greedy? Sounds very manipulative, that’s gaslighting right there. How is donating money to the Jamaat giving precedence to your faith? I want to see a full report of the logistical expenditure of Chanda funds before, so I can decide wether or not Chanda money is actually going towards anything holy.
The Jamaat functions like a business, and essentially sells Ahmadis holiness for money. “We will give you your spirituality in exchange for a money, and the only way to be holy is to give us money in return. You cannot truly love God unless you give us money for it.”
Basically, no matter how good of a person or a Muslim I am, I cannot truly be a good Muslim unless I give their organization my money.
The thing is there are office bearers & members who literally insults & harass poor people in many middle eastern countries. Being an Ahmadi in middle east could be tough for obvious reasons. Thus an Ahmadi would rely on Jama’at far more than in non-Muslim countries as a social support system. And most Ahmadis there would be having little salary. This insulting & harassment by office bearers is something that happens often there. I’ve heard this from multiple people who’ve experienced it. But I’m not trying to push my experience as a Jama’at issue.
The problem I see here is just an instruction to “remind them” does not cut it. The Jama’at should have a strict guideline for office bearers on how to ask people, how often can they ask people, and if they’re not interested then there should be a provision to just let them go. For gentle reminders there are Whatsapp & Emails today. Don’t ring up someone 3 times a month asking 8%+ of their salary. And when someone clearly doesn’t want to pay, teach office bearers to understand the response & let such people of their hook. Most Ahmadis locally know each other, perhaps they grew up together, they are probably family as well. So don’t expect a clear cut “I don’t want to give you money. Don’t call me. Leave me alone” response. But most of the times you could read the cues in one’s response & understand whether they’re interested to pay or not.
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The leaked letter
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Links and Related Essay’s
https://www.reddit.com/r/islam_ahmadiyya/comments/kicg88/those_ahmadis_who_refuse_to_submit_their_budget/
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Tags
#ahmadiyya
