Why Islam is my choice — Page 102
102 the message of Isl ā m as revolutionary, and the one that quietly caused them to bring about a change in themselves. I saw the answers to my curiosity in Isl ā m. At last, on the urging of ‘Abdull ā h, I accepted A ḥ madiyyat, the true Isl ā m. I am thankful to all the brothers and sisters who helped me to get to where I am today. I am very grateful for their help and their caring. The mission house at that time was in a loft on 116th Street between Lexington and 7th Ave. Missionary Ghul ā m Y ā s ī n was the A ḥ madiyyah missionary. At that time a large number of African American musicians were A ḥ mad ī s, such as Ḥ assan Ḥ ak ī m, Ḥ al ī m Rash ī d, Ṣāḥ ib Shahad, McKoy Tyner and others would come to the mission house when they were in town and especially on Jumu‘ah or Friday for prayers. However some would soon fade away as the missionary admonished them to find suitable occupations, as the money from their occupations was not acceptable, that of playing music in bars where their profession was promoting all sorts of unacceptable behavior. To some of them, however, the attraction to Isl ā m was so strong that gradually they had to make the change and eventually became very good members of the A ḥ madiyyah Community. There were some hard times for the movement in those days. Through misunderstanding and hurt quite a few brothers dropped out of the A ḥ madiyyah Muslim Jam ā ‘at. But there were also quite a few who stayed. I can only repeat how grateful I am to all the brothers and sisters who helped me: I had the opportunity to meet Mu ḥ ammad Zafrull ā h Kh ā n, Khal ī l A ḥ mad N ā sir and ‘Abdul-Kadir Zaigham. These meetings were very inspirational and were of great benefit to me. In this short glimpse I hope that it has become clear that I came into A ḥ madiyyat because it was the True Isl ā m. All the