AROPL Cult

 

In the Name of Allah, the Rahman, the Merciful

All praise belongs to Allah, Lord of the worlds

Peace and blessings upon you, Apostle of Allah

The Qadianis who falsely call themselves “Ahmadis” or “Ahmadiyya” attempt to portray their false ascription to the name Ahmad as a sign of them being upon the Truth. However, there are several other sects which named themselves Ahmadi both prior to and subsequent to the emergence of the Qadiani heresy and cult. A subsect of the Imamiyya Shi’a ascribed themselves to a son of Imam Musa al-Kadim whose name was Ahmad, believing him to be his father’s rightful successor and the true eighth Imam instead of Imam Ali al-Rida and were thus known as the Ahmadiyya. Presently, a cult has emerged from the Twelver Shi’a known as the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light, or AROPL, led by a man named Abdullah Hashem, who claims to be one of the twelve Mahdis as per a Twelver Shi’ite tradition. He was a filmmaker who helped produce the controversial documentary known as “The Arrivals”. This cult has its roots in an Iraqi cult leader, Ahmad al-Hasan, whose followers claim he is the Yamani, and the first of the twelve Mahdis. This movement entered the spotlight during the Battle of Najaf in 2007, when a cult known as the Soldiers of Heaven led by one Dia Abdul-Zahra Kadim perished in an uprising against the Americans and the Iraqi government. Much mystery and confusion surrounds this cult, such as whether Dia Abdul-Zahra claimed not only to be the Mahdi but a reincarnation of Mawla Ali bin Abi Talib رضى الله عنه

AROPL and the other cults in Iraq associated with it, having the common theme of believing in multiple Mahdis, that the Yamani has arrived, are not unlike the earlier Ghali Shi’ite heretics who likewise believed in matters such as tanasukh (reincarnation) and new prophets especially those representing an Imam.