Mirza Ghulam Ahmad established the Community ( or '' Jamāʿat '' ) on 23 March 1889 by formally accepting allegiance from his supporters . Since his death , the Community has been led by a number of Caliphs and has spread to 210 countries and territories of the world as of 2017 with concentrations in South Asia , West Africa , East Africa , and Indonesia . The Ahmadis have a strong missionary tradition and formed the first Muslim missionary organization to arrive in Britain and other Western countries . Currently , the Community is led by its Caliph , Mirza Masroor Ahmad , and is estimated to number between 10 and 20 million worldwide . The population is almost entirely contained in the single , highly organized and united movement . However , in the early history of the Community , a number of Ahmadis broke away over the nature of Ahmad 's prophetic status and succession and formed the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement for the Propagation of Islam , which today represents a small fraction of all Ahmadis . Some Ahmadiyya-specific beliefs have been thought of as opposed to current conceptions of Islamic orthodoxy since the movement 's birth , and some Ahmadis have subsequently faced persecution . Many Muslims consider Ahmadi Muslims as either '' kafirs '' or heretics , an animosity sometimes resulting in murder . The term '' Qādiyānī '' is often used pejoratively to refer to the movement and is used in some countries ' official documents
persecution
Persecution of Ahmadis
Ahmadiyya