Televising Islam

Abstract

This chapter explores how Qadian's Ahmadis attempt to inscribe their Muslimness in the world through the cultivation of an exemplary aesthetic of universal devotion to the caliph. Since the creation of the community satellite television network Muslim Television Ahmadiyya (MTA) in 1994, Ahmadis have increasingly been placed in situations in which they are called on to witness the truth of Ahmadiyyat by watching images of themselves performing this exemplary aesthetic. The chapter asks what happens when Qadian's Ahmadis are presented to the world as “proof” even though they feel their actions to be imitative of genuine exemplarity. What happens, in other words, when they are called on to witness truth in their own “counterfeit proof”? In such moments, they are in fact able to achieve a certainty that otherwise eludes them, for in these broadcasts they are comforted by belonging to the only system capable of enforcing truth upon them. Being a witness to truth means opening up the self to this authority.