Perseverance — Page 48
48 – the story of al-haj Rashid ahmad american Chapter 2 – My Handwritten Memoirs While in Pakistan I was in the habit of constantly asking questions to the Second Khal ī fah ra. One day, Abdur-Rah i m Dard ra , who was the author of “The Life of Ahmad” and a close companion of the Second Khal ī fah ra , approached me and said, “Rashid, I see that you are always asking questions to Khal ī fat-ul-Mas ī h, but I never see you writing anything down. How will you remember this?” Accepting that A. R. Dard ra was correct in his observation and realizing that these moments in the company of the Khal ī fah ra were special, I decided to write them down as I witnessed them from that day on. The following are the notes that were documented in my memoirs. I have slightly modified them to include explanatory facts and the spellings have been revised to more accurately reflect the proper transliterations. I have kept some words the same for historical or cultural purposes (e. g. , we used to call the Second Khal ī fah ra the Hazrat , an Urdu term signifying his holiness , and we frequently joined the Urdu word s a hib to a man’s name which in Indo-Pak culture signifies respect, loosely translating to “Mr. ”, and s a hiba for a woman). MAY 30, 1950 – LAYING THE FOUNDATION STONES It was announced in the Mosque (Masjid Mubarik) by Hazrat Maul a n a Jal a l-ud-D i n Shams ra that the Hazrat (i. e. , the Second Khal ī fah ra ) would lay the foundation stones of Tal ī m-ul-Islam High School and the offices of Sadr Anjuman Ahmadiyyah, Tehr ī k-e-