ABSTRACT
This chapter locates the Ahmadiyya Muslims in historical and socio-political context and introduces the key topics addressed in the following chapters. The prophetic claims of Ghulam Ahmad, the Ahmadi promised messiah and the origins of Ahmadiyya Islam are explored in the context of British colonial rule in India. The place of the Ahmadis over the last 150 years in colonial India, post-partition Pakistan and post-colonial Britain are then addressed in terms of minoritarian politics, sectarianism, place-making and diasporic Islam.
