Ahmadiyya in Sierra Leone

The earliest history of the Community in Sierra Leone dates back to the early period of the Second Caliphate, when at least six people are said to have conveyed their adherence to the faith.

The sect attained rapid growth in the country after the 1937 arrival of Nazir Ahmad Ali, the first permanent Ahmadi missionary in Sierra Leone.

Nayyar stayed temporarily in the capital Freetown, whilst he was on his route towards Saltpond, in modern-day Ghana, and Lagos, in Nigeria for his missionary activities.

Before long, he gave a lecture at the Wilberforce Memorial Hall,[1] the principal public meeting place of the city,[2] addressing the Muslim and Christian populations of the country.

[3] However, having been rejected by the majority of Muslim groups in Freetown, Ali decided to move to a coastal town, Mange Bure, in the Port Loko District.

[3] Here Ali had reasonable success, where he managed to establish a small community of Ahmadi Muslims, among them a number of local influential figures.

[3] Two years later, in 1939, Ali transferred to Baomahun, a flourishing gold mining town, south of Bo in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone.

During this period a prevalent belief in Sierra Leone was that the appearance of the Mahdi would be announced by the beating of great drums, as a result of which the nonbelievers will perish, which Ali interpreted as a parable.

[7] On May 5, 1970, the caliph landed at Lungi International in Freetown and was received by leading Ahmadi Muslims from Sierra Leone, Ministers of State and other governmental officials.

Apart from propagating teachings of Ahmadiyya Islam, his visit came in light of a number of meetings with the Governor General, the Prime Minister, and other governmental officials.

In the evening he presided a meeting at the British Council Hall, in Freetown, and the following day he paid a visit to the country's Acting Governor-General and its Prime Minister Siaka Stevens.

Later in the week he held a banquet with Banja Tejan-Sie, the Governor General and Siaka Stevens, the Prime Minister of Sierra Leone.

The convention is usually attended by various notable individuals, such as the president of Sierra Leone, senior Islamic clerics, and paramount chiefs from across the country.

For example, Victor Bockarie Foh, the Vice President of Sierra Leone from 2015 to 2018, was a teacher of Economics and Government at the Ahmadiyya Secondary School in Freetown.

[18] On 27 April 2013, the Community received the Presidential Gold Award "in recognition of its long and outstanding contribution to the nation in the fields of Education, Health, Agriculture and Humanitarian Activities."

[19][20] As part of a wider trend of discrimination against Ahmadis, the Ahmadiyya Community in Sierra Leone occasionally comes into conflict with other groups.

Efforts by the Ahmadiyya Community to join the Inter-Religious Council, a Muslim and Christian interfaith organization, were resisted by Sunnis who considered the Ahmadis to be heretics.

When the Ahmadis refused, the Poro members kidnapped five men, violently initiated multiple people into their society, captured livestock, and burned eight houses.