I often receive messages asking me to share how I left Ahmadiyya. So I’ve decided to post my story here. This isn’t new nor is it first time I’m sharing. But it is slightly updated.

My journey began when one day my husband saw a video session with Imam Rizwan Khan being advertised in the National (USA) Khuddam Telegram group.

My Husband was the local Qaid at the time, and also being bullied by the Missionary in charge of our region. (This isn’t directly related to us leaving, but it did contribute to us realizing Ahmadiyya truly is a cult)

The title of this video session was something like “Why does Islam Allow Concubines?” It was to be livestreamed on YouTube soon.

At the time we laughed and believed it was a “fly catcher”. We just knew the talk would be about how Islam doesn’t allow such horrible things, and it’s just something crazy mullahs say!

Right???

So we watch the live stream and are in utter disbelief.

Shock.

Disgust.

We believed this Imam to be crazy and totally mistaken, and so did 2 other brothers from our local Jamaat.

So we went back and forth with Missionaries(one being the bully mentioned earlier), showing them evidence from Ahmadiyya Literature that they were totally wrong, and that Islam Ahmadiyya forbade Concubinage. (I would later on discover that my husband and I were the ones who were wrong)

I had been frantically researching the topic within the realm of Ahmadiyya. I reached out to my Husband’s Uncle who is an Ahmadi Imam/missionary, and his response to me was to “pray” and that he would address the issue when he returned from overseas. (Never did. Maybe he didn’t have the time?)

I even went as far as asking the Lahorie Jamaat for assistance.(all the while the missionaries were trying to shut us, and another brother, up)

And assist they did. They directed me to a thread on their site where they discuss this subject and quoted MGA on being against Concubinage.

Then I found an old Review of Religions article also supporting this case.

At last I was relieved! It wasn’t that Concubines were allowed in Islam Ahmadiyya, it’s that MGAs sons were for some reason super Passionate about supporting this idea!

So what was our next step? Naturally to reject the false khulafa and be “Muslims who accept the Messiah”, and not Ahmadis. We always knew sectarianism was “Haram” so at the time this made perfect sense to us.

We would identify as such for some time, whilst we researched the Lahorie Jamaat and the works of MGA.

My relief was short lived

We discovered that the Lahorie Jamaat was following MGAs teaching more closely than the Qadiani Jamaat, but we still didn’t see them as rightly guided. We found many flaws in their religion as well. We found that they supported things which we found repulsive.

At this point my husband was more into MGA than I was. I was questioning MGA more harshly than my husband was. I was finding that I didn’t believe in this man anymore, and that I actually felt he was evil.

One day, I shared with my husband the story of Muhammadi Begam. After sharing it, I declared my disbelief in MGA to him. I was afraid of how he would react, but he did so as well shortly afterwards.

We realized we can’t be part of a religion that clashes with our morals.

Since then on we identified as non-sectarian Muslims and I still question things nearly every day.

My morals haven’t changed, but my label has.

Leaving Ahmadiyya was simply learning the true, un-sugarcoated teachings and realizing that my Natural Morals clash with it.

– Aiesha Shams