Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya excommunicate pedophile leader Muneeb

Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya has excommunicated its pedophile leader and teacher Muneeb-ur-Rehman on the basis of ‘a criminal case’ against him in the US.

Muneeb was given a six and half year jail term on August 7 this year after he confessed raping on multiple times a minor boy in his community.

Announcements of Muneeb’s excommunication were made at least in the Jamaat mosques situated in Dallas during Friday congregations. A brief announcement was made giving little details of the reason. He is being excommunicated for being involved in a criminal case, the announcement said mentioning nothing about his sexual assault confession and subsequent conviction.

It took Jamaat more than four years to take any internal action against the culprit as the first time he sexually assaulted the minor boy in 2018. He was arrested on May 11, 2020, and even then the Jamaat did not take any action. Instead, a campaign of victim blaming was initiated which still is going on.

Later, Muneeb was released on bail after furnishing a $100,000 surety bond. On May 25 his bail was cancelled and the surety bond forfeited for his failure to appear before the court and he was declared an absconder. The court issued his arrest warrants and he was arrested on June 5. The Jamaat did not find it a reason enough to excommunicate him.

On Friday, August 5, judge Sherry Shipman of Denton County sentenced Muneeb to jail for six and half years as he pleaded guilty.

Now ahead of the scheduled visit of Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya leader, Mirza Masroor Ahmad, to the US during September 26 and October 17, Muneeb is expelled from the Jamaat.

A US based Ahmadi, on condition of anonymity, told Religion Observer that the Jamaat discourages taking Ahmadiyya community’s internal matters to the state institutions. It is considered as a challenge to the “Nizam-e-Jamaat” (Jamaat system), he said. Ahmadis are supposed to find solutions to their internal matters within the Jamaat setup, he said. As the Jamaat is a closely knit community having multiple layers of hierarchical control, they are religiously encouraged to take their matters to the leadership and Darul Qaza (internal judicial system of the Jamaat).

He said those who take their internal matters to the police or courts are considered to violate the Jamaat system, criticized, abhorred and considered enemies of the Jamaat. The same is the case with the family taking Muneeb’s case to the court. No one on behalf of the Jamaat approached them or expressed their sympathies.

The minor victim in a statement said of the Jamaat: “They abandoned me when I needed them (the) most.”

Minor’s father said in a statement that his family is feeling a deep sense of betrayal, anger and loss. He said that nothing can ever bring back the sense of safety and trust in the community that has been lost.

Even their request to remove Muneeb and his supervisor Waqas Hussain, who happens to be brother-in-law of Muneeb, from administrative posts fell on deaf ears. Instead, the victim minor was removed from his assignment of Nazim-e-Atfal after he took the matter to the police.

Muneeb was functioning as Motamid Khuddam and a teacher for some time under the supervision of Waqas Hussain, who was serving as Quaid (leader) at Baitul Ikram Mosque of Dallas.

Excommunication is the major penalty imposed by Jamaat to any of its members. When someone is excommunicated, all Ahmadis are supposed not to do any business with them, not to have any relations with them, not to invite them to functions and not to attend their functions. Even in some cases, it is observed that some Ahmadis faced Jamaat notices for having a Facebook friendship with those excommunicated. It is justified to say that in some cases, excommunication of an Ahmadi is tantamount to a social death, giving rise to mental health issues. The excommunication only can be set aside by the community head – Mirza Masroor Ahmad.

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