One of the tragedies prevalent in some Muslim majority nations like Pakistan, my birth nation, is the growing levels of religious intolerance and extremism. As I’ve written about before, Pakistan has long targeted the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community for doctrinal differences. Ignoring the fact that Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah sought to create a nation that protected universal religious freedom, and ignoring the Qur’an’s categorical condemnation of religious compulsion—extremist clerics and politicians in Pakistan have prioritized violent targeting per Ahmadi Muslims.
As a result, violence against Ahmadi Muslims is a daily occurrence, often resulting in injury or mass death. The most deadly attack in recent memory was on May 28, 2010, when Taliban extremists mass murdered 86 Ahmadi Muslims in broad daylight in Lahore, Pakistan.
The below video is graphic, and I do not recommend you watch it if violence triggers you. However, I am sharing it because it is important to document the apartheid enforced upon Ahmadi Muslims, and the violence we face in Pakistan on a daily basis.
This attempted murder took place in Rabwah, Pakistan, on October 10, 2025. In it, an extremist walks up to several Ahmadi Muslims in an attempt to target kill them. While security responded, it was not quickly enough to prevent serious injury. While five Ahmadi Muslims were severely injured, fortunately none were killed. The extremist was shot dead where he stood.
Below I recap part of an article I’ve written before, that provides much needed context into what exactly has led to the violence you see depicted in the video above. The bottom line is that difference in personal belief cannot and must not ever become a means of violence. Theological differences on the meaning of life, the truth or falsehood of a person claiming to be from God, or the interpretation of scripture, must never be used as an excuse to exact violence on those who disagree. Such violence dishonors God, His Prophets, and undermines the very purpose of life.
A Brief History of Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was founded in 1889 by a man named Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who claimed to be the awaited Messiah to reform Muslims, peacefully revive Islam, and reject all forms of religious violence. Despite suffering decades of violent religious persecution, it is well documented that Ahmadi Muslims have maintained their position against all forms of religious violence. Pakistan’s persecution of Ahmadis escalated in 1974, when, in an unprecedented vote, the General Assembly amended the country’s Constitution to formally declare the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community ‘outside the fold of Islam.’
Imagine, for a moment, if the United States passed a constitutional amendment declaring Catholics outside the fold of Christianity? Notwithstanding this absurd amendment, in 1984 Pakistan added Ordinance XX to its penal code, criminalizing any Ahmadi Muslim who proclaims to be a Muslim with arrest and fine. By 1986, Pakistan added Section 295-C, mandating up to and including the death penalty for Ahmadi Muslims.
These draconian laws have predictably left Ahmadi Muslims to languish in apartheid conditions. All books, literature, events, speech, and websites belonging to the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in Pakistan are criminalized. Pakistan denies Ahmadis free and fair voting and forces Ahmadi Muslims to declare their faith on their passports as a means to prevent them from performing the Hajj pilgrimage. To perform Hajj, a Pakistani citizen must have “Muslim” on their passport for religious affiliation. To obtain a passport with “Muslim” as the religious affiliation, Pakistan requires applicants to complete a form declaring Ahmadi Muslims as “non-Muslim.” Since Ahmadis refuse to declare themselves non-Muslim, they are identified as “Ahmadis,” and thus denied the ability to perform Hajj. In other words, Pakistan’s government has created special ID cards to single out Ahmadis.
These apartheid conditions have led to systemic persecution of Ahmadi Muslims, including mass murder, grave desecration, expulsion of school children for their faith, and a complete lockdown of all religious practice. Pakistan has faced repeated condemnation from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) for its incessant violation of religious freedom, yet the discriminatory laws remain.
Conclusion
The purpose of this article is to document injustice, and create awareness. The call to action here is quite simply to read and stay informed. Future articles may delve into this subject in more detail, and may also delve into the persecution of Christian and atheist minorities in Muslim majority nations. I have long written about these issues quite simply because my standard is justice and universal human rights. That is what my faith, Islam, calls me to uphold, and I will never hesitate (inshaAllah) to uphold that standard. Thank you for reading, for subscribing, and for sharing. I welcome your questions below in the comments.
Thank you, Qasim. I learn so much from you. My respect for you and Islam grows and grows.
It pains me to see Muslims reject the identity of fellow Muslims, particularly when the victims of such discrimination are tolerant, generous-spirited, and truly lovers of Allah and humanity as the Ahmadiyyas. Unfortunately, this is not unknown to my own Jewish world, in which "religious" extremist settlers on the West Bank pointed their guns at rabbis from various streams of Judaism who came to protect Palestinian olive harvesters -- just this week.