Perseverance — Page 34
34 – the story of al-haj Rashid ahmad american I saved $550 and bought a ticket to go to Pakistan on a freighter. It would take 32 days, going from port to port, until at last it reached Pakistan. When I wrote these details to the Second Khal ī fah ra , he replied that the trip was too long and I should arrive in Pakistan by the Jalsa Salāna [Urdu: Annual Gathering ] in December. He suggested I come by air. I had already bought my ticket, but I returned it, and combined with an additional $150 from the Jamā‘ah [Arabic: Community ], I was able to buy a Pan-American flight from Chicago to Karachi for $700. This Pan-American flight would go from New York to London, England; to Rome, Italy; to Brussels, Belgium; to Damascus, Syria; and finally to Karachi, Pakistan. With $50 in my pocket, I was off to a land where I couldn’t speak the language and didn’t know anyone. I fully trusted Khal ī fat-ul-Mas īh ath-Th ā n ī ra and dropped everything in obedience to his word. THE CITY OF RABWAH When the British deliberated India’s independence, there was a concern for protecting the Muslim minority’s rights. Out of that concern, Pakistan was created as a sovereign state in 1947 by partitioning India. There was a West Pakistan and an East Pakistan. East Pakistan later became Bangladesh as a result of the 1971 war between India and Pakistan. Several Ahmadi Muslims played key roles in the creation of Pakistan, such as Chaudhry Sir Muhammad Zafarullah Khan ra