Cherished Memories of Africa — Page 187
169 area at the Senegal-Gambia border region. Most of the population in the area belongs to Jula tribe. Inayatullah Zahid was then the muballigh in Foni area. He had arranged a tarbiyyat class for his region’s newly converted teachers and imams. The participants included some guests from the bordering towns of Senegal; they had some Ahmadi relatives who used to convey the message of Ahmadiyyat to them according to their knowledge and ability. One day, one Senegalese Ahmadi friend invited Lamin Badjie as well which the later accepted whole-heartedly and attended one of the classes. Inayatullah Zahid gave him an introduction of the jama’at. He was noble-heated person and soon the truth dawned on him and without any hesitation he entered the fold of Ahmadiyyat. Thus Allah blessed him with the historical distinction of being the first Ahmadi members of National Assembly of Senegal. A wave of bai’ats among the Members of National Assembly: Before 1997, there was no jama’at in Dakar. Therefore, for any visit to Dakar we had to arrange the stay there with some acquaintance privately and that was quite difficult and tested ones perseverance. Allah solved that problem later. It so happened that the government of Senegal had built a hostel for Assembly members in Dakar where each member is allocated one room. Omar Badji, being a member of the assembly had one room there. Whenever we needed a room in Dakar we used his room with his permission if he happened to be away. Once Maulana Daud Ahmad Hanif Sahib, the former Amir of the Gambia Jama’at and myself went to Dakar for some jama’at business. We sought Omer’s permission to use his room; that he granted happily. When we reached the hostel we were told by