Why Islam is my choice — Page 142
142 friend. He belonged to Lahori section of A ḥ madiyyat, which did not have any organization except for a handful people in Chittagong. The death of my friend saddened me, and I looked upto All ā h for comfort. My dislike of Sunn ī Maulav ī s prompted me to visit mainstream A ḥ madiyyah Mosque in Chowk Baz ā r in Chittagong. They gave me two books, one was “A ḥ madiyyat K ā Paigh ā m” (Massage of A ḥ madiyyat) in Bengali language, and the other one was “Maha Shushanbad” (Great Joyful News) by A ḥ sanull ā h Sikdar, which was about the coming of Mahd ī and Messiah of the later days as predicted in the Holy Bible and the Holy Qur’ ā n. A ḥ sanull ā h Sikdar was the same person who traveled to Qadian on foot, approximately 1200 miles, to take the Bai‘at (Allegiance) of Ḥ a ḍ rat Mirz ā Ghul ā m A ḥ mad, the Promised Messiah and Mahd ī , peace be on him. Upon reading these books it felt like someone had applied put Marham-i-‘ Ī s ā , the ointment of Jesus, on my wounds. I became further convinced about the truth of A ḥ madiyyat. I was still not ready, however, at all to leave my father’s religion. I was shocked when in 1974, Zulfiqar ‘Al ī Bhutto, then the Prime Minister of Pakistan, declared A ḥ mad ī s as Non- Muslims. That meant A ḥ mad ī s were thrown out of the pale of Isl ā m. I was already impressed with A ḥ madi Muslims; this news did not deter me from A ḥ madiyyat but actually strengthened my interest in it. I quickly decided that it would be better be a non-Muslim as A ḥ mad ī s rather then be so called general Sunn ī Muslim. I was attracted towards A ḥ madiyyat and my soul and mind were getting convinced that A ḥ madiyyat must have the truth since all the 72 sects of Isl ā m had risen against them, fulfilling a saying of the Holy Prophet Mu ḥ ammad (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) that Isl ā m will be divided into 73 sects and only one