Cherished Memories of Africa — Page 96
78 suggested that we went to him and introduced jama’at to him and hoped that he too will become an Ahmadi, God willing, and the light of Ahmadiyyat will spread throughout the area. We had come from the Gambia and having travelled for several days, we were dead tired. However, the desire, and the hope, that Allah may plant Ahmadiyyat in that area, prevailed and we set out for the village. After a long journey arrived there only to find out that our intended host had travelled elsewhere. That anguished us a great deal. Anyway, we spread out a mat in his courtyard and sat on it. Impending evening, exhaustion resulting from the journey and failure to meet the teacher made us think of moving elsewhere to have proper rest. It was very difficult to spend a night without finding an appropriate place. Moreover, we were complete strangers in that area. In the meantime, having noticed our vehicle, people started coming there. The village imam, Ghousou Jallow also came. We introduced to each other. We told them that we were Ahmadis and had come to visit the Ustaz who happened to be away. Imam’s arrival worried me as imams (maulvis) are more prone to oppose the jama’at and become obstacles in the way of Tabligh – they think that if they became Ahmadis, people would dismiss them from their position as imams, thus they would lose their source of income, and their status too. On the other hand when laypersons are preached they respond that being uninitiated in religious matters, they would follow the decisions made by the maulvis. Thus most often each group fails to recognize the truth being wary of the other. When they attend a meeting or conference, the maulvis would assume a defensive attitude straightaway. They regard it a disgrace to give in to the