Why Islam is my choice — Page 37
37 Mu ḥ ammad ‘ Ī s ā J ā n Kh ā n Rewards of a Seeker The author of this biography is a senior member of the Canadian A ḥ madiyyah Muslim Jam ā ‘at. Many of his articles have been published in Al-Furq ā n, Rabwah, The Daily Al- Fa ḍ l, Rabwah, and The A ḥ madiyyah Gazette, Canada. I was born in Mosul, Iraq in 1911. My parents were Nestorian Christians and Kurds by descent. The name given to me at my birth was ‘ Ī s ā. My mother added the word J ā n to it which is an expression of love, so I became ‘ Ī s ā J ā n. My father was an officer in the military under the Ottoman Turks. During World War I, through a treaty with the Ottoman Turkish Government, the British had gained a sphere of influence in Central and Southern Iraq which included Baghdad and Basra. In 1918, the Ottoman Government accused my father of colluding with the British authorities against the sovereignty of the Ottoman Turks. He was eventually sentenced to death, leaving my mother completely helpless and destitute. The only recourse she had was to turn to the British authorities for help. Due to the near anarchic conditions in the country, the British had brought in a number of trained Civil Servants from British India, who were running the day to day affairs of the administration. One of them was Kh ā n Ṣāḥ ib Mi āň Me ḥ m ū d