Who are the "Ahmedites" who live in Kabavir in the Carmel Heights in Haifa?

I had the great privilege of visiting the head of the Ahmadiyya community in Haifa, a week before the annual conference and the big conference where we are called to close hearts between people wherever they are, in the whole world in Israel and in the immediate neighborhood. A mutual friend brought me there, her name was Gila Garzon, who has a big heart and a lot of love for people and previously ran the liaison office for the American Navy that visited Haifa every week.

About the Ahmadiyya movement

Before my visit to Emir Muhammad Sharif Odeh, I read about the Ahmadis in the scriptures, since I know so little about them even though we have been neighbors here in Carmel for decades. The Ahmadiyya movement was founded in the Punjab state in British India in the 19th century by Mirza Ulam Ahmad al-Qadiani (1835-1908) and was named after him. At the age of forty, Ulam Ahmad declared that Allah had tasked him with renewing the face of the Muslim religion and ruling In a world of justice and honesty, his supporters gathered in the city of Ludhiana on March 23, 1889 and swore allegiance to him, a date that is considered to be the foundation of the Ahmadiyya religion for the rest of the world.

The duty of loyalty to the state

"The Ahmadiyya Torah Excludes violence As part of the Jihad," I also heard this later, repeat and hear in an interview with Emir Sharif Odeh." The movement prides itself on preaching enlightenment, peace and love for others. "Ahmadiyya" sees itself as a global religion that should include, in addition to Muslims, Christians, Jews and Hindus. In principle, the Ahmadiyya Torah obliges its believers to be loyal to the country in which they live, and every believer sets aside a percentage of his income for the sect's activities in the fields of religious education and other things." and about a hundred languages. The head of the community in Israel, Sharif Odeh, is subordinate to Caliph Mirza Masrur (from the language of joy), whose seat is in London and he is elected in Israel from among all members of the community.

Gila and I arrived at the outer courtyard that surrounds the beautiful mosque and among the branches of a pomegranate tree on a high ladder who do I see? Mubarak (Moby) is my friend from Fein Cafe, where he has been working for decades and where he made me an amazing "goulash" soup and a delicious "Macchiato Gabriel" for me in the winter until I switched to the competitors. Mobi was the first to invite me to the Ahmadiyya open day and I never found a suitable time. Here I am and he is on a ladder installing some things in his parents' house, we say goodbye and after meeting with Mr. Odeh, we go up the internal stairs inside the mosque to luxurious and modern offices with a recording studio that the new broadcasting corporation "Here and Here" are not ashamed of.

From an Egyptian missile engineer who intercepted Israeli planes, to a man who pursues peace

I expect to meet an older man dressed in a kilt and turban and we are greeted by a bearded young man who is carefully dressed, smiling brings me a warm handshake, a hug and also excitement, a charming and warm-hearted man who conquers my heart in seconds. We exchange names and do a brief introduction and next to Emir Sharif Odeh stands a man with eyes that radiate kindness, wearing a white robe. It turns out that this is the Egyptian Fathi Abd-Salem who came here especially for the conference and is the personal guest of the Israeli Odeh, it also turns out that he used to be a missile engineer and during the Yom Kippur War he was responsible for intercepting Israeli planes. Since then he did "professional retraining" in the literal sense, he also became a religious man and after visiting Mecca he became a Hajj and there he also received enlightenment. Fathi turned from a radical Muslim into a wonderful peace-seeker and Ahmadi, after meeting at the American University in Cairo Prof. Mustafa Thabat, a philosopher and sociologist who brought to him the enlightened Ahmadiyya doctrine.

Before me are three sons and two daughters who follow his path and ask for peace between the nations. He came here to shoot arrows of peace, with the aim of uniting the nations and finding a way and a solution.

I also met Ayman al-Malki who came from Ramallah from the territories, a psychologist by profession who married a local Ahmadi woman and lives comfortably here in Kabavir and Haifa. From the radio studio connected to London where Emir Odeh was broadcasting, we go down the stairs to a particularly large and beautiful TV studio, it's me and Fatchi the friend.

In the studio we sit on either side of the table, the interview flows and the young leader of the congregation in Hebrew and in eloquent language, gives me a short lecture on the history and philosophy of the Ahmadis and the entire Torah, with a flow of speech that leaves no room to pause for a question. I ask about the friend Fathi who is sitting on the right and it is in Arabic he adds his own and Mr. Odeh translates the words. At the end of the interview, I shake the hands of the two men, a short hug and return to the office of immigrants, where another guest appeared who came to the conference from Jordan, who goes by the name Hossein al-Masri from the village of Al Mafrak on the Iraq-Syria border, travels the world and spreads the Ahmadiyya doctrine on his own time and at his own expense.

I interview Hossein El Masri in a separate room, in English, and he speaks like the Haifa leader about peace and unity between peoples regardless of religion, belief or species and ends in English with words that most accurately reflect the community and the Ahmadis

"LOVE FOR ALL HATRED FOR NONE"

And I call it with my lips and in two words "free love", take a picture with the new friends and say goodbye to them in anticipation of hearing at the annual conference next Thursday words of reconciliation, peace and unity both among those present and between the peoples and communities they represent.