As for Ahmadiyyah Muslims, they've been in the UK for about hundred years without causing any trouble and were founded by some guy called Ahmad who would otherwise be a pretty average Sunni if he did not differ so largely on how the world becomes dar al-Islam. Instead of expanding via the precedent set against the Sassanids or Byzantines, expand via the precedent set by Evangelical proselytizers or Indian polytheists, by peace, teaching, preaching and example. Also quite unique in that they're a lot like early protestants when it comes to canon, in that they're ok with (even supportive of) translating holy canon and even incorporate the holy canon of other religions into theirs, holding certain other texts to be within their canon (some Jew, Christian, Hindu texts for example. Hindu ones being especially surprising given that they're not people of the book). I am grossly butchering an entire religion's creed with simplification mind you, as there's a lot more to the sect. Also notable in that they believe they should response to critics of Islam in kind, as today's critics attack Islam via the pen, reply via the pen - not the bomb or machete.
And on that note I just realized I'm still sour that the Hebdo murderers won. Or that the refugees who fled persecution to the West are being killed by the perps the West invited. Or that this was all happening in broad daylight and straight white dictators laughed off the consequences everyone but themselves would have to live through, or not, as it is.
This Ahmad believed his message would be especially appealing to the West, which he believed was falling into materialism. Well there's a sage for you, the West falling into materialism, who'd have thunk it. Mostly live on the other side of London though so fuck if I know much else to talk about in detail that just wouldn't be horrendously insulting in its ignorance.
The sect was founded in Qādiān in the Punjab, India, in 1889 by Mīrzā Ghulām Aḥmad (c. 1839–1908), who claimed to be the mahdī (a figure expected by some Muslims at the end of the world), the Christian Messiah, an incarnation of the Hindu god Krishna, and a reappearance (burūz) of Muhammad. The sect’s doctrine is unorthodox in some aspects: for example, it is believed that Jesus feigned death and resurrection but in actuality escaped to India, where he died at the age of 120; also, jihād (“holy war”) is reinterpreted as a battle against unbelievers to be waged by peaceful methods rather than by violent military means.
http://www.britannica.com/topic/Ahmadiyyah
Now these guys got imagination
What does that have to do with the early Christian Protestants? They certainly were not above persecuting religious opponents anymore than the other sects and religions were.
Early Christian protestants were soft and incapable of doing much, seeking to remove big money from the Papacy and stop abuses by the Clergy, wicked Popes, Nuns, Priests and so on. Then, being picked up on the wings of rising nationalism, the Puritans are born, and shit gets TOASTY.
Oh!
Relevant:
I'm reminded of the Italian firebrand priest who upset the Republics of Italy with an uprising. He preached of the decadence of the Republics, the corruption of the Papacy, warnings of foreign invasion (of course all three happened) and preached an austere, strict Catholicism. He preached that the bible was the sole source of authority on Earth, that poverty was a virtue and that all artworks and books that were not holy should be burned for being sinful distractions. When his prophesy of foreign invasion came true a French army was marching to Naples - this would take them through Florence. Florence itself was undergoing political turmoil and its ruler Piero (recently having taken office) surrendered spinelessly to the French, an affront that caused the Florentines to rebel against Piero themselves. This priest would take control of Florence and Florence would turn from one of the great centres of secular humanism to a book burning theocracy.
Not a Protestant priest mind you, but the mechanisms that made Piero made the Puritans, foreign invaders, domestic decadence and corruption amidst religious turmoil. Later Protestantism had much of the same values as Ottoman Sunni Islam, (though obviously differing on belief and practice, held quite similar values).
For that matter, they [the ahmadis] are hardly the only contemporary muslims making a stand against religious violence.
I just fail to see what suddenly makes them so singular.
Them being a significant community in the UK in the story about Ahmadis being killed in the UK by Salafists for making a stand against Jihad
It's pretty obvious if you don't overlook it