Over the past few days, an unexpected video has been making rounds on WhatsApp groups, TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter. In it, Maulvi Israr Ahmad — a once-trusted religious figure within the Ahmadiyya Jamaat in Malaysia — speaks openly, and quite critically, about the inner workings of his community.
Israr Ahmad, a Qadiani-Ahmadi cleric, seems to have reached a breaking point. In the viral clip, he talks about how some high-ranking Ahmadis were apparently absolved of serious wrongdoings in Malaysia, while poor Ahmadis — many of whom are stuck in difficult conditions in refugee camps — were left to suffer.
The way he laid it out, it felt less like a religious community and more like a system of privilege and favouritism.
But that wasn’t all.
In a follow-up video, Maulvi Israr Ahmad turned his attention toward two of the Jamaat’s major fundraising programs: Tehrik-e-Jadid and Waqf-e-Jadid. For anyone unfamiliar, these campaigns are massive financial drives where members are urged — often quite forcefully — to donate in the name of religion and global community service.
Israr Ahmad boldly questioned the sincerity behind these drives.
He pointed out that Mirza Masroor Ahmad (the current head of the Ahmadiyya Jamaat) has promised special prayers for those who donate — an incentive that, according to Israr Ahmad, twists the original spirit of giving that the second Khalifa had preached.
To back up his point, he even quoted from Anwarul Aloom, Volume 25, pages 221–222, where the 2nd Khalifa emphasized that financial sacrifices (chanda) should be made purely for Allah — without any expectation of reward or special treatment. In contrast, Israr Ahmad accused the current leadership of turning donations into a kind of transaction: money in exchange for blessings.
It’s important to note videos like these are rare. Public dissent from within the Jamaat is usually suppressed quickly. The fact that Maulvi Israr Ahmad’s videos are still circulating, gaining views and discussions online, shows that his words are striking a nerve — not just with critics of the Jamaat but also with many inside it.
Following the controversy, reports suggest that Maulvi Israr Ahmad has been officially expelled from the Ahmadiyya Jamaat in Malaysia. No formal public statement has been made yet, but sources close to the matter confirm the expulsion.
Whether you agree with him or not, one thing is clear: Cracks are beginning to show, and voices that were once silenced are now getting harder to ignore.
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