Perseverance — Page 190
190 – the story of al-haj Rashid ahmad american I presided over the funeral and I remembered a saying I heard from the Second Khal ī fah ra which was, “A woman who was more loving towards the baby than the mother is a witch. ” I then said at the funeral, “We, I as his teacher, his mother and father, have no intention of creating any disturbance from the result of this untimely death. So who are they to create this mischief more than we? If we are not willing to create this disturbance in the name of Fahim, how could they? Are they more loving to him than we?” Upon the conclusion of my sermon, I received a note from the alderman which read, “Job well done. ” We successfully went from the funeral home to the graveyard with no incident. PERFORMING THE HAJJ I was blessed to perform the H ajj in the Spring of 1998. It was not as hot as the summer months, during which the temperatures could easily exceed 100 degrees. The following seven Ahmadi brethren accompanied me: Al- Hā j N as irull a h Ahmad (who is currently the president of the Milwaukee Jam a ‘ah), Maul a n a al- Hā j Azhar Haneef and his dear father al- Hā j Abid Haneef, al- Hā j Jal a l N u rudd i n, al- Hā j Mustafa Abdullah, al- Hā j Kh a lid Walid and al- Hā j Raf i q Lake. I was the eldest of the group being 76 years old at the time. It is only by the sheer Grace of Allah that I was able to complete the H ajj without any issues. All eight of us met in the Chicago O'Hare Airport, and upon my suggestion, we agreed to perform the H ajj Tamattu , which means we would make the ‘Umrah and H ajj with the same ihram.