Justice and equity as guarantors of international peace

At a time when it seems that social, political and religious divisions are increasingly leading to polarised societies that are unable to unite their efforts and progress. Submerged in an international reality that bombards us day after day with hundreds of news items of conflicts, tragedies and misunderstandings. In short, facing an atmosphere in which, almost incessantly, tensions between some nations and others, between some citizens and others, do not cease to grow. Right now. It is against this backdrop that the Spanish Ahmadi Muslim Community has resumed its monthly conferences through a first webinar, "The global crisis and the urgent need for true justice".  

The virtual meeting, which took place on Thursday 24 March, was directed and moderated by the spokesperson of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Spain, Qamar Fazal, and was attended by Ahmadi missionaries Qaiser Mahmood Malik and Zafar Rasheed. However, and in Fazal's own words, both this and the successive meeting spaces will also serve as a meeting point for the exchange of ideas, so that the interventions of the rest of the participants will also become a fundamental axis of the seminars.

The Ahmadiyya Community is a branch of Islam distanced from Shi'ism, of Sunni tendency, which claims that its Muslim leader, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, is the "Mahdi" and "Messiah" that Muslims are still waiting for. It advocates pacifism and tolerance of the Islamic creed and diversity.

In fact, in just over 130 years of existence, the Ahmadiyya community has tens of millions of adherents around the world, now spanning more than 200 countries.  

The seminar began with a reading of some verses from the Qur'an by missionary Qaiser Mahmood Malik, followed by a speech by the Community's spokesman, Qamar Fazal. "For more than a decade, our spiritual leader, Hazrat Mirza Masrur Ahmad Sahib, has been warning heads of state, diplomats and other representatives around the world about rising tensions and the possibility of nuclear war," were Fazal's opening remarks. 

Through various quotations from Hazrat Mirza Masrur Ahmad Ahmad Ahmad Sahib, the spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community gave a speech that focused on the defence of an effective peace that is based on justice and stability, and which guarantees the curbing of international tensions and the prevention of future wars such as the one provoked by the offensive of Russian troops in Ukraine.  

"Peace and justice are inseparable. It is not possible to achieve one without the other," said Fazal, using the words of the Ahmadi spiritual leader, and despite the strong political charge of the demands made by the Community's spokesman, the meeting did not dodge the spiritual and religious issues that drive its peaceful values.  

"However, we are seeing disorder and the absence of peace in many parts of the world. This disorder, both within countries and in terms of relations between nations, is taking place despite the fact that all governments claim that their policies are based on justice, and that peacemaking is their priority objective," condemned Qamar Fazal, who listed poverty, economic interests and injustices as reasons for the growing conflicts.  

"We need to make a concerted effort to bridge the economic gaps between people and countries," said Fazal. In this vein, the spokesman quoted Hazrat Mirza Masrur Ahmad Sahib as stressing the need to "move forward together in a spirit of mutual respect. We must join the race to save and protect humanity".  

Thus, and as a symbol of the willingness to understand, reference was made during the seminar to the missive that the Ahmadi spiritual leader sent to Pope Francis a few weeks ago: "As the world leader of the Roman Catholic Church (...), I sincerely ask you to use all your means to guide the leaders and people of the world towards the urgent need to fulfil the rights of our fellow human beings, so that humanity is spared from the harmful effects of this pandemic and the devastation and destruction that would undoubtedly trigger a Third World War".  

Indeed, the possibility of escalating tensions up to the outbreak of a Third World War was another of the central issues of the meeting. "This war has the potential to escalate further, but there is still time to pull back from the brink of catastrophe," said Fazal, urging Russia, Ukraine, NATO and all world powers to work towards an end to the war. "The use of nuclear weapons would leave us facing an uncertain and sad future, for us and for generations to come”.  

"We now have a great responsibility. We must not look the other way," concluded Ahmadi missionary Zafar Rasheed after the invitation to visit the Basharat Mosque, headquarters of the Community of Ahmadi Muslims in Spain, in the Cordoba town of Pedro Abad. "All of us have to unite and form a big community".