May 26th became a tragic day for Mehdi Ali Qamar’s family, and indeed for all Ahmadi Muslims, as he was shot down by two gunmen with eleven bullets, in front of his wife and two year old son. This happened as the American cardiologist from Ohio, began his day by praying at a graveyard in Rabwah. Pakistan before going to provide free health care at the Tahir Heart Institute, a hospital founded on the principles of serving poorer sections of society. This was his mission for the next few weeks to firstly leave his home in the US, and secondly to volunteer his time in his homeland at the hospital. Instead the hatred mission of the extremists in the Muslim world wiped out in seconds a peaceful member of our community with senseless shootings. His legacy will not be erased as the community mourns the loss, and comes to terms with the unfathomable crime.
These crimes are not one in a few, as the moral state of Pakistan today is deteriorating rapidly and the strong hand of the Muslim clergy controls every religious denomination in the place, with Ahmadiyya Muslims getting the worst treatment as the police stand by. This is due to the state declaring Ahmadi Muslims outside the pale of Islam, and the misquoting of the Qur’an to murder them. Like Mehdi Ali, all Ahmadi Muslims just want to live peacefully. As a poet, he wrote, “We shall exchange face to face with death, words on how life is attained.”
Our success does not depend on this life but also on the next. And we find peace in this. We also unequivocally condemn acts of hatred and work with the pen to openly condemn them all.
