Furqan Force

Last updated

Furqan Force
Formation1948
Founder Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad
Defunct1950;74 years ago (1950)
Legal statusDefunct
Region served
Dominion of Pakistan
Mirza Nasir Ahmad (left) chatting with Furqan Force colonel Sahibzada Mubarak Ahmad Mirza Nasir Chating with Furqan Force Colonel Sahibzada Mubarak Ahmad.jpg
Mirza Nasir Ahmad (left) chatting with Furqan Force colonel Sahibzada Mubarak Ahmad

The Furqan Force or Furqan Battalion was a uniformed Battalion force of volunteers of the minority Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in the Dominion of Pakistan. Formed in June 1948 [1] at the direction of Head of the Worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad, at the request of Pakistan government, the unit fought for Pakistan against India in the First Kashmir War. [2] In addition to its troops being drawn from the Ahmadiyya population, the expenses of maintaining the unit were also paid by that community. [3]

The unit was disbanded on 7 June 1950. Following the anti-Ahmadiyya Lahore riots of 1953, a Pakistani court of inquiry cited the Furqan Battalion in discussions of the Ahmadiyya role in Pakistani society. [4]

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References

  1. Aḥmad, Bashīr (1994). The Ahmadiyya Movement: British-Jewish connections. Islamic Study Forum. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  2. Valentine, Simon Ross (2008). Islam and the Ahmadiyya jamaʻat: history, belief, practice. Columbia University Press. p. 204. ISBN   978-0-231-70094-8.
  3. Khan, Muhammad Zafrulla (1978). Ahmadiyyat: the renaissance of Islam. Tabshir Publications.
  4. Report of the Court of Inquiry constituted under Punjab act II of 1954 to enquire into the Punjab disturbances of 1953. Printed by the Superintendent, Govt. Printing, Punjab. 1954.