An Enchanting Bureaucracy

This chapter details how, as a result of the historical processes described in the previous chapter, life in Qadian is now dominated by the administrative system of the Ahmadiyya Jamaʻat. This system performs a crucial role in the Ahmadis' struggle to demonstrate their Muslimness: through the rational ordering of life, the system creates the intimate and direct relationship with the caliph that Qadian's Ahmadis so fervently desire. As such, this is an “enchanting bureaucracy,” for it sacralizes life in the town. In explicit contrast with the Indian state, Ahmadis in Qadian argue that their Jamaʻat bureaucracy provides them with direct access to justice. This utopian vision is nonetheless impossible to sustain, and when it collapses beneath the weight of disagreements and resentments, the Ahmadi–caliph relationship that the system produced appears to be an imitation. Ultimately, the enchanting bureaucracy simultaneously produces both certainty and its antithesis. It might thus be considered to produce a counterfeit proof of Muslimness.