Mahzarnama (The Memorandum) — Page 19
Mahzarnama 19 individual or another sect? How would such edicts impinge on the collective status of the followers of Islam as a whole? The Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at views such edicts as nothing more than strongly held opinions of some religious scholars who regard certain articles of belief to be counter-Islamic to such an extent that, in their view, Allah will consider one who holds such beliefs to be a disbeliever and such a one will not be resurrected among Muslims on the Day of Judgement. In this sense, such edicts constitute no more than warnings in this world. But as far as conducting the day to day affairs of this world is concerned, no individual or denomination can be empowered to expel an individual or a sect from the larger corpus of Islam. It is a matter between a human being and God and it can only be resolved on the Day of Judgement. Since the application of these edicts to govern worldly matters would entail disastrous consequences for the unity of the Muslim ummah , therefore no individual or sect can be declared to be outside the pale of Islam on the strength of an edict issued by the religious scholars of any denomination. The viewpoint that if unanimity among all sects is achieved in regard to the perceived disbelief of any one sect then such a situation can call for the expulsion of this sect from Islam, is erroneous and irrational on the grounds that, in actual practice, every sect in Islam has certain beliefs which in the agreed opinion of a number of other sects makes the holders of such beliefs liable to be considered outside the pale of Islam. Indeed the existing situation underlines the need for a divinely appointed, just, arbiter. If today a consensus of all sects can be forged against the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at on the pretext of certain differences, then in the days ahead, it is quite likely to have the same outcome against the Shia sect on account of some of their exclusive