Bay'ah (Ahmadiyya)

Bai'at or Bay'ah (Arabic: بَيْعَة‎‎; literally a "sale" or a "transaction") is an Islamic practice of declaring on oath, one's allegiance to a particular leader. In an Islamic religious sense, this oath is the standard procedure of pledging allegiance to an Imam, a spiritual leader, with the idea of selling oneself in exchange of the spiritual guidance given by an Imam. It is known to have been practiced by the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his successors (caliphs) after him and is a practice that also forms a notable feature within Ahmadiyya Islam. Following the death of a Caliph, the leader of the community, a pledge of allegiance is taken by the newly chosen Caliph from members of the community, based upon this prophetic model and the bay'ah is the standard procedure for entering the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. Since 1993, a large Bay'ah ceremony of initiation for entering the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, is also held on an international scale every year during the annual gathering of the community. The ceremony is led by the caliph at whose hand new converts take the oath of initiation, and old members of the community can reaffirm their oaths.

The concept of bay'ah is considered very important to Ahmadi Muslims. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, after claiming to be divinely appointed as the renewer of Islam, took the first bay'ah in 1889 at Ludhiana. After this, many individuals travelled long distances to Qadian to be initiated in the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. The practice was continued by his successors.

The tradition was originally started by the Islamic prophet Muhammad and continued by the 4 Caliphs after him.

In 1993 Mirza Tahir Ahmad, the fourth Ahmadiyya Caliph, internationalised the Bay'ah through Muslim Television Ahmadiyya International (MTA) by which people from all over the world were now able to partake in this pledge which would be simultaneously translated into 12 different languages. Since then, The international oath of allegiance has taken place every year at the annual gatherings in UK, except for one year (2001) when it took place in Germany.

...
Wikipedia