Perseverance — Page 126
126 – the story of al-haj Rashid ahmad american TRIP TO LAHORE TO MEET AMERICAN CONSULATE GENERAL (REGARDING 1953 RIOTS) One day Huzoor ra had summoned me to Qasr-e-Khil ā fat to meet with him. I was very surprised why I was being asked to come to the Khal ī fah’s residence by his request. Upon arriving there, he began to tell me about his preparation for his first trip to England back in 1924. He said that some of his advisors suggested that he should wear English clothes because the British would laugh at him wearing his atchkin [ coat ] and pagr ī [ turban ]. After thinking about it, he thought if there were people who would laugh at him for being himself, then there would be others who would appreciate him in his native dress. He said that he would rather be with those who admire him wearing his own dress, rather than being with those who would mock him unless he conformed to their fashion. The Khal ī fah ra asked me if I was receiving my mail regularly. I did not notice anything unusual. Huzoor ra then told me that another American person in Pakistan, Abdush-Shakoor Raish, was of the opinion that his mail was being censored by the Pakistani authorities 39. Huzoor’s concern was that the Movement’s mail was interrupted, both in receipt and sending, during the crisis of the 1953 riots. This being the suspicion, Huzoor ra was concerned of 39 On September 2, 2013, Rashid Ahmad informed me that Abdush-Shakoor Raish worked with the American government before he accepted Ahmadiyyat and he was stationed in Germany at the time he accepted Ahmadiyyat. Raish was acquainted with matters such as governmental censure of mail. [Writer]