Perseverance — Page 170
170 – the story of al-haj Rashid ahmad american GOING SOUTH TO SAXTON, MISSOURI I drove south in Missouri with Saeed Ahmad 48 of the St. Louis Jam ā ‘ah. We planned on performing some tabl ī gh and selling some clothes. Saeed was my childhood friend who graduated with me from Lincoln High School in East St. Louis, in the class of ’42. He accepted Ahmadiyyat after he learned that I had accepted when I was in Chicago. We slept in the car every night we traveled because there were no hotels that would accommodate black people in those days. We stopped in a restaurant. The restaurant owner came to me and said, “Boy, let me tell you this right now: You can buy whatever you want in here, but you cannot eat it in here. ” Saeed wanted to dispute with the man. However, I advised Saeed to calm down and decide whether we wanted the food or not. Saeed said that since we had been driving all night, we really should stop for food. We decided to eat the food in the car and afterwards we fell asleep. 48 When Saeed Ahmad learned about Rashid Ahmad’s conversion to Islam, he made a special trip circa 1947 from East St. Louis, IL to Chicago, IL to find out directly from Rashid what Islam was all about. He stayed several days talking to Rashid and the brethren about Ahmadiyyat. Saeed returned to East St. Louis and introduced Rashid’s original group of friends to Islam. Approximately ten of them accepted and became members of the St. Louis, MO Jamā‘ah, whose missionary was Shukr- Il a h i. Saeed Ahmad never turned back from Islam, and just recently passed away in August 2013. Inn a Lill a hi wa inn a Ilayhi r a ji‘ūn. May Allah reward him abundantly with the Fruits of Paradise. A m i n. [Writer]