Ahmadiyya in the context of Muhammad in Islam

Islamic schools and branches have different understandings of Islam. There are many different sects or denominations, schools of Islamic jurisprudence, and schools of Islamic theology, or ʿaqīdah (creed). Within Sunnī Islam, there may be differences, such as different orders (tariqa) within Sufism, different schools of theology (Atharī, Ashʿarī, Māturīdī) and jurisprudence (Ḥanafī, Mālikī, Shāfiʿī, Ḥanbalī). Groups in Islam may be numerous (Sunnīs make up 87-90% of all Muslims), or relatively small in size (Ibadis, Ismāʿīlīs, Zaydīs).

Differences between the groups may not be well known to Muslims outside of scholarly circles, or may have induced enough passion to have resulted in political and religious violence (Barelvism, Deobandism, Salafism, Wahhabism). There are informal movements driven by ideas (such as Islamic modernism and Islamism), as well as organized groups with governing bodies (such as Nation of Islam). Some of the Islamic sects and groups regard certain others as deviant or not being truly Muslim (for example, Sunnīs frequently discriminate against Ahmadiyya, Alawites, Quranists, and sometimes Shīʿas). Some Islamic sects and groups date back to the early history of Islam between the 7th and 9th centuries CE (Kharijites, Mu'tazila, Sunnīs, Shīʿas), whereas others have arisen much more recently (Islamic neo-traditionalism, liberalism and progressivism, Islamic modernism, Salafism and Wahhabism), or even in the 20th century (Nation of Islam). Still others were influential historically, but are no longer in existence (non-Ibadi Kharijites and Murji'ah).

Muslims make up approximately 95 percent of the population of Mali. The majority of Muslims in Mali are Non denominational and Malikite Sunni, influenced with Sufism. Ahmadiyya and Shia branches are also present.

Islam has been present in West Africa for over a millennium, and Mali has been the center of various Islamic empires, such as the Ghana Empire and the Songhai Empire. Mali was a French colony and now follows the secular French model in which the government does not intervene in religious matters.

In Cameroon, Islam is a minority faith practiced by around 30.6% of the total population as of 2022. Among Cameroonian Muslims, approximately 40% identify themselves as Non-denominational, 27% Sunni, 2% Ahmadi and 3% Shia, while the majority of the rest do not associate themselves with a particular group and sect.

In Cameroon, 48% of Muslims belong to a Sufi Tariqah (order). The Fulani, a pastoral nomadic group, spread Islam in early 19th century West Africa largely through commercial activity and Sufi brotherhoods (Qadiri and Tijani). In the northern provinces, the locally dominant Fulani is overwhelmingly Muslim. Other ethnic groups, known collectively as the Kirdi, generally practice some form of Islam. The Bamoun ethnic group of the West Province is also largely Muslim.

Pakistanis (Urdu: پاكِستانى قوم, romanized: Pākistānī Qaum, lit. 'Pakistani Nation') are the citizens and nationals of Pakistan, as well as their descendants in the Pakistani diaspora or the people who trace their ancestry to Pakistan. Constituting the fifth-largest national group in the world, Pakistan has a population of over 241.5 million, forming a multicultural society. Pakistan has the second-largest Muslim population in the world (as of 2023), sitting at 96 per cent; with significant Hindu, Christian, Ahmadi, Sikh, Zoroastrian and other religious minorities. The majority of Pakistanis natively speak languages belonging to the Indo-Iranic family, alongside a minority of Sino-Tibetan, Dravidian and isolate languages.

Located in South Asia, the country is also the source of a significantly large diaspora, most of whom reside in the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf, with an estimated population of 4.7 million. The second-largest Pakistani diaspora resides throughout both Northwestern Europe and Western Europe, where there are an estimated 2.4 million; over half of this figure resides in the United Kingdom (see British Pakistanis).

The biblical account of the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus (ʿĪsā) recorded in the Christian New Testament is traditionally rejected by the major branches of Islam, but like Christians they believe that Jesus ascended to heaven and he will, according to Islamic literary sources, return before the end of time. The various sects of Islam have different views regarding this topic; traditionally, mainstream Muslims believe that Jesus was not crucified but was bodily raised up to heaven by God, while Ahmadi Muslims reject this belief and instead contend that Jesus survived the crucifixion, was taken off the cross alive and continued to preach in India until his natural death.

The official religion of Pakistan is Islam, as enshrined by Article 2 of the Constitution, and is practised by an overwhelming majority of 96.35% of the country's population. The remaining 3.65% practice Hinduism, Christianity, Ahmadiyya (considered a non-Muslim group as per the Pakistani constitution), Sikhism, Zoroastrianism and other religions.

Muslims comprise a number of sects: the majority practice Sunni Islam (estimated at 85-90%), while a minority practice Shia Islam (estimated at 10-15%). Most Pakistani Sunni Muslims belong to the Hanafi school of jurisprudence, which is represented by the Barelvi and Deobandi traditions. However, the Ahl-i Hadith movement has also gained popularity together with Wahhabi influence from the Middle East. The majority of Pakistani Shia Muslims belong to the Twelver Islamic law school, with significant minority groups who practice Ismailism, which is composed of Nizari (Aga Khanis), Mustaali, Dawoodi Bohra, Sulaymani, and others.

Islam in Denmark, being the country's largest minority religion, plays a role in shaping its social and religious landscape. According to a 2020 analysis by Danish researcher Brian Arly Jacobsen, an estimated 256,000 people in Denmark—4.4% of the population—were Muslim in January, 2020. However, according to figures reported by the BBC in 2005, about 4.8% of the Danish population at the time are Muslim (around 270,000 Muslims of 5.6 million). The figure has been increasing for the last several decades due to multiple immigration waves involving economic migrants and asylum seekers. In 1980, an estimated 30,000 Muslims lived in Denmark, amounting to 0.6% of the population.

The majority of Muslims in Denmark are Sunni, with a sizeable Shia minority. Members of the Ahmadiyya community are also present in Denmark. In the 1970s Muslims arrived from Turkey, Pakistan, Morocco and the former Yugoslavia (mainly Bosnia) to work. In the 1980s and 90s the majority of Muslim arrivals were refugees and asylum seekers from Iran, Iraq, Somalia and Bosnia. In addition, some ethnic Danes have converted to Islam; In 2017, close to 3,800 Danish Muslims were converts to the religion. According to a survey by Aarhus University, the number of mosques is on a steady upward trajectory, rising from 115 in 2006 to 161 in 2017 —an increase of 40%.

Islam is the second-largest religion in Cyprus, after Christianity, and is also the predominant faith of the Turkish Cypriot community which resides in Northern Cyprus. Before the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, the Turkish Cypriot community made up 18% of the island's population and lived throughout the island. Today, most of the estimated 264,172 Muslims are based in the north of the island.

Turkish Cypriot society is formally relatively secular; adherents to the faith subscribe mostly to the Sunni branch of Islam, with an influential stream of Sufism underlying their spiritual heritage and development. Nazim al-Qubrusi, the leader of the Naqshbandi-Haqqani Sufi order, hailed from Larnaca and lived in Lefka. Another branch among the Turkish Cypriot Muslims is Alevism. There are also a few Turkish Cypriots who are Ahmadi Muslims.

Islam is the third-largest religion or subdivision and second-largest religion in Croatia after Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, which are Christian religions. The religion is followed by 1.3% of the country's population according to the 2021 census. Islam was first introduced to Croatia by the Ottoman Empire during the Croatian–Ottoman Wars that lasted from the 15th to 16th century. During this period some parts of the Croatian Kingdom were occupied which resulted in some Croats converting to Islam, some after being taken prisoners of war, some through the devşirme system. Nonetheless, Croats strongly fought against the Turks during these few centuries which resulted in the fact that the westernmost border of the Ottoman Empire in Europe became entrenched on the Croatian soil. In 1519, Croatia was called the Antemurale Christianitatis by Pope Leo X.

The Islamic Community of Croatia (Mešihat Islamske Zajednice u Hrvatskoj) is the main organization of Muslims in Croatia that is officially recognized by the state. The President of the Islamic Community is Aziz Effendi Hasanović. As of 2011, 62,977 Muslims live in Croatia. Most of them declare themselves as Bosniaks (31,479) while others declare themselves as: Croats (9,647), Albanians (9,594), Roma (5,039), Turks (343), Macedonians (217), Montenegrins (159), Ahmadies (16) and other (2,420).

Pandit Lekh Ram (April 1858 – 6 March 1897) was a 19th-century social reformer, publicist, and writer from Punjab, India. He was the leader of the radical wing within the Arya Samaj, an Indian Hindu reform movement. He was known for his criticism of the caste system, superstitions, and blind faith prevalent in Hindu society. He also advocated for the education and empowerment of women. He is also known particularly for his encounters with Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement, and as a subject of his death prophecy. Lekh Ram's outspoken views and writings made him a controversial figure, and he faced opposition and violence from conservative Hindus and Muslims. His assassination by an unidentified assailant on 6 March 1897

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (13 February 1835 – 26 May 1908) was an Indian religious leader and the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement in Islam. He claimed to have been divinely appointed as the promised Messiah and Mahdi, in fulfillment of the Islamic prophecies regarding the end times, as well as the Mujaddid (centennial reviver) of the 14th Islamic century.

Born to a family with aristocratic roots in Qadian, rural Punjab, Ahmad emerged as a writer and debater for Islam. When he was just over forty years of age, his father died and around that time he claimed that God began to communicate with him. In 1889, he took a pledge of allegiance from forty of his supporters at Ludhiana and formed a community of followers upon what he claimed was divine instruction, stipulating ten conditions of initiation, an event that marks the establishment of the Ahmadiyya movement. The mission of the movement, according to him, was the reinstatement of the absolute oneness of God, the revival of Islam through the moral reformation of society along Islamic ideals, and the global propagation of Islam in its pristine form. As opposed to the Christian and mainstream Islamic view of Jesus (or Isa), being alive in heaven to return towards the end of time, Ahmad asserted that he had in fact survived crucifixion and died a natural death. He traveled extensively across the Punjab preaching his religious ideas and rallied support by combining a reformist programme with his personal revelations which he claimed to receive from God, attracting thereby substantial following within his lifetime as well as considerable hostility particularly from the Muslim Ulama. He is known to have engaged in numerous public debates and dialogues with Christian missionaries, Muslim scholars and Hindu revivalists.

Ahmadiyya Muslims consider Jesus (ʿĪsā) as a mortal man, entirely human, and a prophet of God born to the Virgin Mary (Maryam). Jesus is understood to have survived the crucifixion based on the account of the canonical Gospels, the Qurʾān, hadith literature, and revelations (waḥy and kašf) to Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. Having delivered his message to the Israelites in Judea, Jesus is understood to have emigrated eastward to escape persecution from Judea and to have further spread his message to the Lost Tribes of Israel. Ahmadi Muslims accept that Jesus died a natural death in India. Jesus lived to old age and later died in Srinagar, Kashmir, and his tomb is presently located at the Roza Bal shrine.

Although sharing many similarities with the other Islamic views of Jesus, the Ahmadiyya teachings are distinct from the beliefs held by most mainstream Muslims, who deny the crucifixion of Jesus and believe that he ascended bodily to heaven, and will, according to Islamic literary sources, return before the end of time.

Islam is the largest and the state religion of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan has over 231.69 million adherents of Islam (excluding the administrative territory of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan), making it the world's second-largest country by Muslim population. As much as 85–90% of Pakistanis follows Sunni Islam. Most Pakistani Sunni Muslims belong to the Hanafi school of jurisprudence, which is represented by the Barelvi and Deobandi traditions.

About 97% of Pakistanis are Muslims. The majority are Sunni (85–90%) while Shias make up around 10-15%. Smaller minority Muslim populations in Pakistan include Quranists, nondenominational Muslims. There are also two Mahdi'ist based creeds practised in Pakistan, namely Mahdavia and Ahmadiyya, the latter of whom are considered by the constitution of Pakistan to be non-Muslims; they jointly constitute less than 1% of the population. Pakistan has the world's largest Muslim majority city (Karachi).

Clement Lindley Wragge (18 September 1852 – 10 December 1922) was an English meteorologist. He set up the Wragge Museum in Stafford following a trip around the world. He was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and in 1879 was elected Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society in London. To the end of his life, he was interested in theosophy and spiritualism. In 1908, during a tour of India, he met with Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement in Islam who had claimed to be the Mahdi, the messianic redeemer awaited by Muslims. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle sought him out in New Zealand to ask for his views on spiritualism before writing The Wanderings of a Spiritualist in 1921. After training in law, Wragge became a meteorologist, his accomplishments in the field including winning the Scottish Meteorological Society's Gold Medal and years later starting the trend of using people's names for cyclones. He travelled widely, giving lectures in London and India, and in his later years was an authority on Australia, India and the Pacific Islands.

Ahmadiyya is a minority sect of Islam in Bangladesh. Although the first Bengalis to join the community did convert during the lifetime of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the religion was first established as a community in the region of Bengal in 1913 by Syed Muhammad Abdul Wahed, during the Caliphate of Hakeem Noor-ud-Din. As the worldwide community is itself is a highly organised group under the Caliph, the national community works under the name Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Bangladesh or Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at Bangladesh (Bengali: আহমদীয়া মুসলিম জামা'ত, বাংলাদেশ; abbrv. AMJB). There are an estimated 100,000 Ahmadis in the country as of 2004.

The Mahmood Mosque, (German: Mahmud Moschee) situated in Forchstrasse, Zurich, is the first purpose-built mosque in Switzerland. It is owned and run by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. The mosque has a minaret, the new construction of which is now banned in Switzerland by popular vote.

The foundation stone was laid with a stone from the wall of the Mubarak Mosque, India by Amatul Hafeez Begum, daughter of the founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad on August 25, 1962. It was a sign of the emancipation of Muslim women, both then and now. The mosque was inaugurated on June 22, 1963, by the then President of the 17th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Sir Muhammad Zafarullah Khan, in the presence of the Mayor of Zurich, Dr. Emil Landolt. The mission in Switzerland was led by Mushtaq Ahmad Bajwa from June 1962 until January 1975.