Regrets or no regrets, that is the question

Today, I got asked an interesting question on ask.fm, a site on which people can ask you questions anonymously, and you answer them. The question was and I quote - Nobody is born in this world with their own choice. If you had to.. would you change your beliefs or will you remain the same? End quote. 

It inspired me enough to write a post about it because I don't think I could have justified my answer in just a couple of lines. 

Contrary to popular belief, I do not feel ashamed in any way of being an Ahmadi, regardless of how this country and most of it's population has made me feel. I feel no regrets in belonging to a sect, which has been ostracized by the nation. I do not think I could have it any better, belonging to a community where people are so loving and caring, that they put forward their others' needs in front of their own, where people are tightly knitted into a brotherhood. I can not even imagine a life without Ahmadiyyat and the brother/sisterhood that comes along with it. 

This country has learned just to detest Ahmadis. The new generations have grown up being brainwashed, learning that Ahmadis are not good people, in every sense of that word. I have seen little kids, barely in their teens, writing posts on social networks about how Ahmadis deserve to die, and if you ask them whether they even know why they hate Ahmadis so much, they have no answer because they do not know the history. Nowadays, it's like this - if people figure it out that you're Ahmadi, they will stop talking to you without any explanation, and they will expect you to realise that it is your fault, not theirs. They will constantly keep it hanging over your head that you're an Ahmadi, which in this country means you are no less than a piece of dirt on the road, meant to be stepped and stomped on. Not everyone is like that, this I'd like to clarify here. I have found a LOT of people in real life, and on social networking who sympathize with Ahmadis, and who know I'm an Ahmadi and are still on very good terms with me. So, saying the whole nation is against Ahmadis would be one of those huge lies which you can't take back. There are a lot of people backing us up and supporting us Ahmadis as well.

Coming back to the question, I'd like to say, I wouldn't change a single thing. Although I do wish that I could help make the authorities realise that we aren't plotting a conspiracy, like they believe we are, nor do we stray from the teachings of Islam in any way, even though that is a matter of man and God, not man and man. I also wish I could make them realise that we are a peace loving community. But that is something out of my hands. Living as an Ahmadi in Pakistan is very hard, considering you see banners and flyers everywhere, spewing profanities at us, and some shops don't allow us to go inside as if we are some bad omen, and then there are the looks.. The looks that follow you where ever you go, judging you, criticizing you, condemning you. Regardless of all this, if it were my choice, I would stay here, in this community. Because everything aside, Ahmadiyyat have given me so much, that without it, I don't think I'd be as religious and spiritual as I am now. I also wouldn't have the motto "Love for all, hatred for none" etched into my mind. I have so many blessings that have only been given to me because of Ahmadiyyat, and I truly would not have it any other way. 

However, here, I would want to thank all of my non-Ahmadi friends, every single one of them, which I have made through the years in real life, and on Twitter and Facebook, for supporting me through this, for not judging me for which sect I belong to, for not leaving me because of me being an Ahmadi, for loving me as I am. I have been a pessimist throughout my life, having seen what has happened to Ahmadis over the years. I have seen that hate myself in university when half of the people just cut off all contact with me, and the other half just made fun of my religion behind my back, but you guys have made me realise that there are a lot of genuinely sincere people out there as well. I can not thank you enough for that.