Fazl-e-Umar — Page 343
Fazle Umar 343 Ahmadi Communities to divert them from decline towards progress. Just as Ahmadi- yyat was founded to breath new life into Islam, in the same way Waqfe Jadeed was initiated to raise the standards of physical, moral and spiritual states of members living in remote communities lying outside the direct gaze of the headquarters to an exalted station and breathe fresh life into them. On his initial assessment Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad [rh] (Khalifatul Masih IV) discovered that religious awareness in the rural areas of Pakistan was in a dire state. Mu’allumeen (religious teachers/tutors) were trained and posted to the rural parts of Pakistan to counter this state of affairs. An arduous task achieved by making huge sacrifices. The Mu’allumeen were provided education and training. An elementary religious school was set up within the department of Waqfe Jadeed for this very purpose. Apart from basic religious education the students were brought up to date with various branches of secular knowledge. They were familiarised to a certain degree in subjects which included mathematics, geography, history, sociology, economics, politics, agri- culture, chemistry and physics. Similarly, they were taught housekeeping and domestic duties including how to wash and iron clothes. Hence, in 1965 by the grace of God Almighty eighteen Mu’allumeen successfully completed this course and began serving the Community in the rural areas. The first duty of a Mu’allam after being posted was to assess the situation and pro- vide feedback to the headquarters. This report detailed the numbers of men, women and children in the village, how many knew the obligatory prayers with translation, the number who could read the Holy Qur’an with or without translation and whether they read it daily, number who offered prayers in congregation, numbers well versed with the fundamental teachings of Ahmadiyyat such as the death of Jesus, the concept of the Seal of the Prophets and the validity of the Promised Messiah [as]. Thereafter, he works day and night to improve the situation and provides figures