Nasim Mehdi

First, I will discuss Naseem Mahdi's personality, then the issue of why he is in Canada for so long.

Naseem Mahdi is probably the only maulvi in Jama'at who you can put into a corporate board meeting, and he will appear to be in charge. He has a very acute mind, a lot of knowledge, confident personality and a keen political sense, progressive, and he is not dogmatic. I would have voted for him for Khalifa at any time. He is head and shoulders above M. Masroor.

To Canadians, I say: you are better off being Muslims, but if you are stuck being part of the cult, then you are better off under him than under any of the other Jokers in the Amila.

However, having said that, he has used the Jama'at's persecution complex to his advantage. He has established some very high-level relationships and can bail out the Jama'at in very crucial moments. When Ahmadis are arrested in Pakistan, Jama'at gets propaganda points, but when a Khandaan member gets arrested, there is panic. If I say the names of the international political leaders whose buttons Mahdi can press in one hour, it would be a disservice to everyone. So I will refrain, let it suffice that during his stay in Switzerland and other places, he has established relationships with international leaders, and they can be on a flight to Islamabad on a few hours notice if it is urgently required. Politics is a game of favours, and Mr. Mahdi knows how to play the game very well.

Mirza Tahir had an off-again, on-again relationship with Mr. Mahdi. M. Masroor is positively intimidated by him right now, and Mr. Mahdi is keeping his distance to let M. Masroor settle in. But there is almost no chance that in the near future, M. Masroor can order anything to Mr. Mahdi's detriment.

Regarding tabligh, are you kidding me? 90% of the Ahmadis know in their heart the truth about Tabligh, and the rest are just a herd. Mr. Mahdi was one of the pioneers of the 'make them all themselves Ahmadi approach' that Chaudhry Rasheed so famously approved. He was aware that Sharjah (the Great Muballigh) was attaching an apartment application for Ahmadiyya Abode of Peace to a Bai't form and going to the Somali community and saying, "you have to sign both forms, one to belong to the community that owns the building and the other for the apartment application." He got one Somali into the building, leading to about 800 applications, which Mr. Mahdi accepted as Bai'ats. That was wrong of him, and he knew it, but there was sooo much pressure from London, and to his credit, he did not want to lie.

His attack dogs have hurt a lot of people and that is where he could do much much better, by having sincere people around him, but a sincere person will last there for a few days. There was a lot of money moved around during the Mosque project and an audit never took place, but that is bone you have to throw to the attack dogs.

He used to have a full-time maulvi managing the stock market for him. As a politician, you have to return favours when called. A loan by his millionaire friend to another of his friends went bad. As he had guaranteed the money, he did some stock-peddling for the Jama'at (with the help of Aslam Daud) so that the first friend could recoup some of his losses. But many in the Jam'at lost a lot of money. When they complained, he said, "caveat emptor" -- buyer beware.

His millionaire friend was a decent person until he became a stock-market swindler. It was at that point that Mr.Mahdi should have rejected any participation on moral grounds. Some Ahmadis even warned him and Mirza Tahir that the whole Exxon deal by the millionaire's shell company was a swindle; and even earlier some Ahmadis warned him that this type of fraud is marginally legal, but very unethical. They found out, but too late.

Mr. Mahdi has some business interests in Western Canada and elsewhere, and I don't hold him accountable for that - he has to have some money and lifestyle to play the role that Jama'at wants him to play.

However, now he is much more mature than in his earlier days, and if there is anyone who can lead the Jam'at away from the fiasco of 1974 and become Muslim again, it is him, and I call on him to do so.

Mr. Mahdi, a life is lived only once and you are answerable to Allah after you die. Why don't you do the bold move and save millions from this cult that feeds the Peer Family of Rabwah/Qadian.