True Conception of the Ahmadiyya Movement
by Maulana Muhammad Ali
Attitude towards Jurisprudential Problems
In all the matters of fiqh (jurisprudence) the attitude of Ahmadis is completely liberal. The details of laws, viz. regulations of marriage, divorce, inheritance, prayer, fasting, ablution, etc., which have caused great controversy among Muslim ‘ulama’ [clerics] do not worry them in the least. They enjoy full liberty in these matters. It would be quite correct to say that the Ahmadiyya Movement is rather a synthesis of the different schools of thought in Islam based on fiqh and invites them towards unity by tolerating and ignoring their differences. Whatever minor differences Ahmadiyyat has with other Muslim sects only relate, as already remarked, to the propagation and defence of Islam. Thus, if Ahmadiyyat is a sect in Islam, it is unlike the sects of other religions, for there are no sects in Islam in that sense. It is again unlike other sects in Islam which are based on differences in fiqh, for in that sense it is a synthesis of all these sects. It is a sect in Islam in the sense that for the furtherance of the cause of Islam it has laid emphasis on certain points and has devised effective means to face the hostile forces working against Islam. The task for the internal reformation of Muslims itself falls within the scope of its programme.