Pakistani Ahmadis

Pakistani Ahmadis

Ahmadiyya in Pakistan refers to members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community who live in Pakistan or are born in Pakistan. Approximately 2–5 million Ahmadis live in Pakistan. Hence Pakistan is the home to the largest population of Ahmadis in the world. The city of Rabwah in Punjab, Pakistan is the global headquarters of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. The Ahmadiyya population in Pakistan has often come under persecution and discrimination by the Muslim majority, who regard the Ahmadiyya as a heretic sect. Nevertheless, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is well-organised and there are Ahmadiyya places of worship, as well as Dawah facilities, established throughout the country where Ahmadis practice their faith.

The Ahmadiyya sect has its origins in the Punjab region, in the city of Qadian. Following the independence of Pakistan as a separate nation for Muslims in the Indian subcontinent, the majority of Ahmadis in areas constituting present-day India moved to the newly-created state, establishing Pakistan as the central and global hub of the international Ahmadiyya movement. Although a relatively small minority in the country, there have been a number of notable Pakistani people who have belonged to the Ahmadi community, including renowned scientist Abdus Salam, the country's first Nobel Prize laureate.